1.
foreigner; person from another land; stranger
A person from a foreign country or unfamiliar place. A literary and somewhat poetic term, often carrying a sense of being out of place or belonging to a different world.
During my days living as a foreigner, I thought deeply about my identity.
Composed of 異 (different, foreign) and 邦人 (person of a country). This is a literary and somewhat elevated word. In everyday conversation, 外国人 or the more casual 外人 are far more common for referring to foreigners.
異邦人 carries a nuance of existential otherness — not just someone from abroad, but someone who feels fundamentally out of place. This makes it popular in literary, philosophical, and artistic contexts.
Cultural note
The word is widely recognized in Japan through two famous works: the Japanese title of Albert Camus's novel L'Étranger (The Stranger/The Outsider), and the 1979 hit song 異邦人 by 久保田早紀.