The meaning behind 国に帰る I know the basic use of the phrase . What I’d like to know is when a Japanese person uses this phrase, do they (without giving it much thought, perhaps) imply that a foreigner is always to come back to their country of origin? Let’s imagine a person who’s lived in Japan for many years and for who the country has become home, so there is no other country return to - they are where they are supposed to be. Will the same old be used?

Basically yes, can be used in such a situation.

) in the expression is sometimes written as (with the pronunciation ), _homeland_. So can be used as long as the speaker perceives it as his/her homeland.

As such in some cases may not be used or can be ambiguous - if A was born in the US and moved to Japan at the age of three, then A wouldn't seriously say to mean going to the US. Or if a 50-year-old American person B has lived in Japan for thirty years and he says somewhere outside Japan and the US, then it can be ambiguous - going to Japan or to the US (To me it sounds more like to the US, though).

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**Added** If a Japanese says , then usually it means going back to his/her hometown for a long term/permanently.