King's Kung-Fu& Tai Chi

Japanese symbol for “overseas”

Romaji: kaigai
foreign; abroad; overseas

In Japanese, overseas is , read (kaigai).

Before using these characters for a tattoo, check them with a native speaker. Dictionary words often have several meanings, and the right choice depends on context.

Meanings

  1. adj-no, n foreign; abroad; overseas

Kanji and stroke order

sea, ocean
on: カイ
kun: うみ
9 strokes · JLPT 3
outside
on: ガイ、ゲ
kun: そと、ほか、はず.す、はず.れる
5 strokes · JLPT 4

Other Japanese words for “overseas”

WordReadingMeaning
ざいがい zaigaioverseas; abroad
がいこくぶたい gaikokubutaioverseas (military forces)

Related words

Words that share a kanji.

WordReadingMeaning
かいがん kaiganseashore; coast; seaside
かいぐん kaigunnavy; naval force
ほっかいどう hokkaidouHokkaido (island, prefectural-level administrative unit)
かいじょう kaijou(on the) sea; surface of the sea
かいよう kaiyouocean; sea
がいこく gaikokuforeign country
いがい igaiexcluding; except (for); apart from
がいこう gaikoudiplomacy

See also: Chinese symbol for “overseas”.

Data: JMdict (CC BY-SA 4.0); KANJIDIC2 (CC BY-SA 4.0); KanjiVG (CC BY-SA 3.0); wordfreq (CC BY-SA 4.0 (data)). Retrieved 2026-10-22.

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