Japanese foreign minister asks international media to say prime minister’s name correctly

Japan’s Foreign Minister asked international media on Wednesday to start saying the prime minister’s name correctly.

Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono told reporters that the government hoped the prime minister’s name “would be written Abe Shinzo, just like Chinese President Xi Jinping and South Korean President Moon Jae-in,” CNN reported.

“I am planning to issue a request to the international media,” Kono said, adding he hoped Japanese English-language press would follow suit.

{mosads}In Japanese, as in Chinese and Korean, people are referred to by their family names first, followed by their given names. 

However, for over a century, Japanese names have been written in the English format, with their given names first.

Kono on Wednesday pointed to a report issued nearly 20 years ago by the National Language Council urging the adoption of the Japanese format in English, according to CNN. The report’s recommendation was not adopted at that time.

The Associated Press style guide does not include an entry for Japanese names, but AP writes the Japanese Prime Minister’s name as Shinzo Abe. 

According to the Chicago Manual of Style, “if (a Japanese) name is westernized, as it often is by authors writing in English, the family name comes last.”