A problem newspaper readers in Japan confront on a daily basis is that no definitive rule exists for writing foreigners' names.

Keizo Nagatani, professor emeritus at the University of British Columbia, took up the issue in the Sankei Shimbun on July 10 in a column titled "Shimbun ni katsu!" ("A call to newspapers"). Here is a translation:

It's not such a huge problem that one should start a clamor, but I have some bones to pick with the way Japanese transcribe foreigners' names. In general, these are written using katakana, a method that while used in Japan from long ago, is not without problems.