why the random japanese names?
We've always used Japanese titles on the forum, particularly associated towards fuedal and military subjects. Expanding on the titles is by no means a random process, even if there is no singular theme such as focusing on a particular martial arts system, for example.
gaijin is kind of racist. gaikokujin is the proper word, it's like the difference between saying "japanese" and "jap", or "american" and "yank".
So are you of the opinion that it is
kind of racist, or do you feel that you are moreso to one side of the issue than the other, personally speaking? If by 'kind of' you allude to the multiplicity in meaning, then I can understand how some might take offense. I've read that it is often people who are foreign to Japan that receive the word almost always as a derogatory, but it's been used between people of Japan to refer to, simply, a 'stranger'. If I thought it was a word that people would be in an uproar about, I would probably have considered another option for this first level rank, but I've seen enough evidence to suggest that it is still a worthwhile word. In my mind, gaikokujin is overly formal and nationalistic for these purposes (succinctness), as well as being a longer word, and the Japanese do have a tendency to truncate some words, in this instance reducing back again to gaijin. I sincerely hope people are not intent upon utilizing the more negative connotations of the word here on this forum. Ultimately, it is just a word, and not something I'm married to. If we could find a superior rank list that reduced the possibility that someone would take offense, I would definitely consider that. Thanks for bringing this up hawken.