Japan’s foreign minister ask international media to use the family name first (Credit : Bloomberg)

Japanese Foreign Minister Ask International Media to Correctly Name Japanese People

Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono or called Kono Taro in Japan recently asked the media and international organizations to improve the mention of Japanese names. Prioritizing namely by surname and then followed by first name.

Kono said that international media should name Japanese people with clans first. The same way when naming people from other Asian countries. For example, the name of Japanese prime minister, Shinzo Abe. In future, should be called Abe Shinzo.

Both the Chinese and Korean people themselves have a tradition of naming names with precedents, then their first names. This was also done by the international community to name them. However, unlike China and Korea, the international community generally often refers to Japanese people with their first names. Actually this practice has long been carried out since the 19th century. At that time Japan was undergoing a process of modernization and westernization.

Because of that, Kono suggested that this change could begin at the G20 meeting which will be held in Osaka, on the 28th - 29th June 2019. Where at that time the leaders of the G20 member countries will arrive in Japan. Among the leaders of the G20 country itself, the President of the People's Republic of China Xi Jinping, and South Korean President Moon Jae-in.

Kono is known to be very obsessed about changing this naming method. Under the leadership of him, the foreign ministry has attempted to apply this change of naming method in official documents. Kono, who had studied in the US, even uses the name "KONO Taro" in his name card.