A somewhat derogatory term for the foreign Asian women, particularly those from the Philippines, who arrive and reside in Japan for employment. It is a wordplay on the term からゆき(唐行き), which refers to the historical occurrence of impoverished Japanese families sending girls or women to go (行き) overseas (唐国) to earn money as prostitutes. Also to be found written in katakana ジャパユキ and often with the suffix さん, as in じゃぱゆきさん.
唐行き is defined in the second edition of Daijirin as:
The じゃぱ part of じゃぱゆき of course refers to "Japan." The 行き part plays on the historical sense that the social trend of "going overseas" has now changed to "coming from" overseas.
The term じゃぱゆき can also be found written in English as "Japayuki." Here is an example concerning a theater group performing in Japan:
This year's "Sana" has undergone some revisions to make the play more encompassing of the issues of migrant women and Japanese-Filipino children. Two new scenes were added to portray the malicious neighborhood gossip that usually hound "Japayuki's" or women entertainers in Japan, and to bring home the message of respect for one another.
An example of an article in an Australian university publication:
Mackie, V., 1998, "'Japayuki Cinderella Girl': Containing the immigrant other", Japanese Studies, vol. 18, no. 1. pp. 45-63.