Foreign Minister Taro Kono of Japan. (Pool/AFP/ Rolex DeLa Pena)

Japan Asks International Media to Follow Traditional Order of Japanese Names

Family name first, given name second—as emphasized by Japan’s Foreign Minister, Taro Kono, in Tuesday (5/21) news conference. The foreign minister plans to issue a request for overseas media to change how they write Japanese names as it is in the Japanese custom. He also encourages local media outlets that have English service to start considering the change in their writings in order to respect the country’s tradition.

This is not Kono’s first time brought up the matter. He noted that when news media write Chinese and Korean names, they generally follow the order of putting the family names first as when writing the name of President Xi Jinping and Moon Jae-in. Therefore, he expects the media will also practice the same thing when it comes to addressing Japan’s prime minister as Abe Shinzo instead of Shinzo Abe. The efforts to get the world saying the Japanese names properly urged by the reason that Japan will be soon hosting a number of international events, including the G-20 summit in April, the Rugby World Cup started in September, and the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo next July. Kono himself speaks fluently in English and writes his name on his Twitter page as ‘KONO Taro’.cu

However, some observers see the request of the foreign minister as a mark of Japan’s backward steps, as said by Tokyo translator Sachiko Ishikawa. She honestly thinks it will lead to a bigger problem to Prime Minister Abe’s administration—for demanding international community on such thing in order to build their nationalistic sentiments, whereas at the same time Japan is on trying to attract foreign citizens toward the country.

Abe’s administration is known for adhering to tradition and tends to insularity.