これ考え方によって３通りの意味になるよね。「日本に住む外国人、その人たちに好かれてる日本人」と「外国人の事を好きな日本に住む日本人」と「日本に住んでる外国人のを好きな日本人（この日本人は日本に住んでる人限定ではない）」。
外国人男が好きな日本人女とかいるじゃん。だから俺はその意味かと思ったのよ。
Where it has an icon NEW! it says 「日本に住む外国人が好きな日本人」I couldn't understand what it means for a moment as it can have three meanings. I decided it means "Japanese people living in Japan that like foreigners" - it's people like me. But what i
t means was not that, but it was "Japanese people (e.g. historical people) that foreigners living in Japan like."
I believe those who have good understanding of Japanese grammar can see the confusion that the sentence can have three meanings "Japanese people living in Japan that like foreigners," "Japanese people that like foreigners living in Japan," and "Japanse people that foreigners living in Japan like." Explaining it in English, maybe it seems funny for those who don't know Japanese well enough that one sentence can technically (grammatically) have those completely different three meanings.
Let me explain further as to why it happens. To do so, let's break down the sentence. BUT before that, you should know that the expression "~ な ..." in Japanese describes something - an adjective comes at "~" and the thing described comes at "..." For instance, "有名な人" is "person (people) that is/are famous." Note that it's not the same as "famous person/people." In English, adjective describes what comes after the adjective, but in Japanese, unless the adjective ends with ~い (like きれい) sound, the very principle idea is like "[something] that is [adjective]" (although the adjective spatially comes first). So, more simply, "きれいな花" in English would be "beautiful flower," but what "きれいな花" grammatically has as a nuance is more like "flower that is beautiful." Got it? I think it's like French. "room, huge." hah
Having the idea above in mind, you can see "外国人が好きな日本人" as "Japanese people that like foreigners." If you combine "外国人" that with what's before that, "日本に住む" it would mean "foreigners living in Japan." So if you see the sentence divided as "日本に住む外国人" and "が好きな日本人" it means "Japanese people that like foreigners living in Japan."
To mean "Japanese people living in Japan that like foreigners," you see "日本に住む (living in Japan)" and "日本人 (Japanese people)" together as "日本に住む日本人 (Japanese people living in Japan." In this case, you see "外国人が好きな日本人" just as an adjective (describing "Japanese people living in Japan). So, grammatically it's unnecessary information - that those "Japanese living in Japan" like foreigners. To make the sentence clearer to mean "Japanese people living in Japan that like foreigners," you can chance the order of syllables into "外国人が好きな日本に住む日本人." Oh well, now it can mean "Japanese people living in Japan that foreigners like." Now it's "foreigners that like Japanese people living in Japan," not "Japanese people living in Japan that like foreigners." lol Well... But with this sentence "外国人が好きな日本に住む日本人," it has only two possible meanings: "Japanese people living in Japan that like foreigners" and "Japanese people living in Japan that foreigners like."
Okay, lastly, for the sentence to mean what it was meant to mean, "Japanese people that foreigners living in Japan like," you can see ...hmm this is the trickiest (that's why I got the meaning wrong) OK, let's use commas. if you put comma "日本に住む外国人が、好きな日本人" that case it's clear that it means "Japanese people that foreigners living in Japan like."
For the two meanings I wrote above, if I have to keep the words in this order, I would write "日本に住む外国人が好きな、日本人" to mean "Japanese people that like foreigners living in Japan" and "日本に住む、外国人が好きな日本人" to mean "Japanse people living in Japan that like foreigners." But now it can also mean "Japanese people, who are living in Japan, that foreigners like." So... Ichiro, MLB player is not living in Japan currently, I guess, so he will be excluded. lol
I believe those who have good understanding of Japanese grammar can see the confusion that the sentence can have three meanings "Japanese people living in Japan that like foreigners," "Japanese people that like foreigners living in Japan," and "Japanse people that foreigners living in Japan like." Explaining it in English, maybe it seems funny for those who don't know Japanese well enough that one sentence can technically (grammatically) have those completely different three meanings.
Let me explain further as to why it happens. To do so, let's break down the sentence. BUT before that, you should know that the expression "~ な ..." in Japanese describes something - an adjective comes at "~" and the thing described comes at "..." For instance, "有名な人" is "person (people) that is/are famous." Note that it's not the same as "famous person/people." In English, adjective describes what comes after the adjective, but in Japanese, unless the adjective ends with ~い (like きれい) sound, the very principle idea is like "[something] that is [adjective]" (although the adjective spatially comes first). So, more simply, "きれいな花" in English would be "beautiful flower," but what "きれいな花" grammatically has as a nuance is more like "flower that is beautiful." Got it? I think it's like French. "room, huge." hah
Having the idea above in mind, you can see "外国人が好きな日本人" as "Japanese people that like foreigners." If you combine "外国人" that with what's before that, "日本に住む" it would mean "foreigners living in Japan." So if you see the sentence divided as "日本に住む外国人" and "が好きな日本人" it means "Japanese people that like foreigners living in Japan."
To mean "Japanese people living in Japan that like foreigners," you see "日本に住む (living in Japan)" and "日本人 (Japanese people)" together as "日本に住む日本人 (Japanese people living in Japan." In this case, you see "外国人が好きな日本人" just as an adjective (describing "Japanese people living in Japan). So, grammatically it's unnecessary information - that those "Japanese living in Japan" like foreigners. To make the sentence clearer to mean "Japanese people living in Japan that like foreigners," you can chance the order of syllables into "外国人が好きな日本に住む日本人." Oh well, now it can mean "Japanese people living in Japan that foreigners like." Now it's "foreigners that like Japanese people living in Japan," not "Japanese people living in Japan that like foreigners." lol Well... But with this sentence "外国人が好きな日本に住む日本人," it has only two possible meanings: "Japanese people living in Japan that like foreigners" and "Japanese people living in Japan that foreigners like."
Okay, lastly, for the sentence to mean what it was meant to mean, "Japanese people that foreigners living in Japan like," you can see ...hmm this is the trickiest (that's why I got the meaning wrong) OK, let's use commas. if you put comma "日本に住む外国人が、好きな日本人" that case it's clear that it means "Japanese people that foreigners living in Japan like."
For the two meanings I wrote above, if I have to keep the words in this order, I would write "日本に住む外国人が好きな、日本人" to mean "Japanese people that like foreigners living in Japan" and "日本に住む、外国人が好きな日本人" to mean "Japanse people living in Japan that like foreigners." But now it can also mean "Japanese people, who are living in Japan, that foreigners like." So... Ichiro, MLB player is not living in Japan currently, I guess, so he will be excluded. lol
*素人の語学的な説明ですが専門的な知識をお持ちの方、何か間違っている所があったら訂正してください。*
*My linguistic explanation is only as an amateur, so if any Japanese linguists or anyone with deeper knowledge finds any mistake in my explanation, please correct me.*
