”By 1874, when their numbers reached 520, the combined salaries of the foreign experts [brought in by the Meiji government to modernize Japan] accounted for roughly one-third of Japan’s annual budget” (Getting Wet pg 110)
Despite the widespread impression that 外人 (gaijin- literally “outside person”) and even 外国人 (gaikokujin- literally “outside country person”) are disparaging names, the word “foreigner” comes from the same Latin root as the Spanish word “fuera”, and therefore originally meant almost exactly the same as “gaijin”
