The idea of asking foreign media to write the names of Japanese people with the family name first is ill-advised and not practical (“Kono to ask media to put family names first,” May 23).
To change the current practice of putting the given name first, which has been in use for some 100 years, will be extremely difficult, and is likely to cause confusion. People not familiar with the situation will start calling the prime minister “Mr. Shinzo” or the foreign minister “Mr. Taro,” opening them to ridicule.
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