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.
異邦人の目で町を見た。
I saw the town through the eyes of a foreigner.
彼女はこの土地では異邦人だった。
She was a stranger in this land.
異邦人として暮らす日々の中で、自分のアイデンティティについて深く考えた。
During my days living as a foreigner, I thought deeply about my identity.
カミュの『異邦人』は世界的に有名な小説だ。
Camus's 'The Stranger' is a world-famous novel.
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 NOTES:
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.
COMMON COLLOCATIONS:
- 異邦人の目: the eyes/perspective of an outsider
- 異邦人として生きる: to live as a stranger
- 永遠の異邦人: eternal outsider
SIMILAR WORDS:
- 外国人: foreigner — the standard, neutral term for a person from another country
- 外人: foreigner — casual abbreviation, sometimes perceived as blunt
- よそ者: outsider, stranger — someone from outside the local community, not necessarily foreign