Moves are afoot to push media to switch Japanese name order in English, but will it work?
Some laugh it off as a First World problem. But others say the topic touches upon issues of identity, sovereignty and press freedom. Foreign Minister Taro Kono recently stirred controversy by saying he wants to change the way Japanese names have long been rendered in ...
Time for a change? Japan wants international media to put family names first
Foreign Minister Taro Kono plans to ask overseas media outlets to write the names of Japanese people with the family name first, as is customary in the Japanese language. If realized, the new policy would mark a major shift in the country's long-running practice for ...
Japan's government went online to ensure Reiwa wouldn't clash with 'pachinko parlors or bars'
The government relied heavily on the internet when checking that the new era name, Reiwa, was not already in common use as the name of places, companies or organizations. The research method was a world away from the approach taken the previous time the government ...
Cybozu chief Yoshihisa Aono loses lawsuit at Tokyo court over right to use premarital name
A Tokyo court on Monday upheld a national law that forces couples to use the same surname upon marriage, rejecting claims over its unconstitutionality. The lawsuit against the central government was brought by Yoshihisa Aono, the 47-year-old president of software development firm Cybozu Inc., and ...
The teen formerly known as Prince (Oji-sama) begs parents in Japan to avoid kira-kira names
A teenager's decision to change his name spawned a viral tweet and led to a broader conversation online and in the media amid a trend for Japanese parents to give their children unusual given names. The boy, who was ashamed of his given name — ...
LDP's Seiko Noda goes against custom, addressing lawmakers with honorific suffix san, not kun
Former internal affairs minister Seiko Noda, the first female chair of the Lower House Budget Committee, is making headlines for her unconventional style in steering deliberations — calling lawmakers by their names with the honorific suffix san, rather than kun, which is usually used ...
Getting to know Japan on a first-name basis
What's in a first name? In Japan, you'll find insights into societal change.
Japanese surnames: Among the usual suspects, you're bound to find some curveballs
How many Japanese surnames are there anyway? It's a tricky question, because the total depends on how you decide to count them.
Most common name for company chiefs in Japan is Makoto Sato: survey
If your name happens to be Makoto Sato, the chances of you rising through the corporate ranks all the way to the top are probably higher than others. That's according to results from a survey on the most prevalent names for company presidents among 2.6 ...
A linguistic storm is brewing in Luderitz, where some residents of the remote Namibian town are protesting plans to change its name to !Nami#nus. Those are not typographical errors. The name, proposed by some government officials and tribal authorities, incorporates clicklike sounds in the language spoken ...
East Japan Railway Co. and West Japan Railway Co. have named four bullet trains that will run on the Hokuriku Shinkansen Line, which will connect Tokyo and Kanazawa, Ishikawa Prefecture, via Nagano, from spring 2015. The names — Kagayaki, Hakutaka, Tsurugi and Asama — were ...
Prove you're Japanese: when being bicultural can be a burden
Japanese are Japanese and foreigners are foreigners, and never the twain shall meet? In many aspects of daily life in this country, there is one way for the Japanese and another for the rest of us. Like it or not, that's just how it ...
