Mr. Who? Japan is considering flipping the order of its given and family names when talking to Westerners
Hi there, thanks for joining us for episode 227 of Plain English. All your in-depth resources for this episode are available at PlainEnglish.com/227.
Coming up today: Japanese people present themselves with their given names first and their family names last, when talking to Westerners—but they do the opposite when talking to one another. Now some people want to change that. In the second half of today’s episode, we’ll talk about the English expression “bed to,” and in the third half of the program, we have a song of the week.
First things first: Japan debates a name change
Politics aside, which of these isn’t like the other? Xi Jinping, or Mr. Xi, is the president of China. Moon Jae-in, or Mr. Moon is the president of South Korea. And Shinzo Abe, or Mr. Abe, is the prime minister of Japan.
Did you notice? In the cases of the Chinese and South Korean leaders, we in the West say their family names first and their given names second, as they do in their own countries. But we traditionally have said Japanese names with the given name first, family name second—even though they in their own language do the opposite.
But now it is time, say many in Japan, for Westerners to flip the order and say Japanese names the same way we say other Asian names—with the family name first. So from now on, we’ll refer to Abe Shinzo, which is how he’s referred to in his own language.
In English, especially in the US, we often call your “given” name your “first name” because here in our culture it comes first. We say your family name is your “last” name because it comes last. This causes minor confusion with many people in Latin America, who use four names—two given, and two family names. But a greater confusion arises when talking about Asian names, where the family name comes first in order, and the given name follows it.
The Japanese recognized this about 150 years ago and purposely presented themselves with the Western naming convention when talking to Westerners. It was part of a broader movement to learn more modern, Western ways of life, to open up their culture, and to accommodate a globalizing world. They didn’t change the way they addressed each other at home—only the way they presented themselves to the Western world, to people who used the Latin alphabet.
So for the last century and a half, all Japanese people have had two identities, if you will—the local one and the Western one. Japanese business cards often have two sides—a Japanese side with the name in the traditional order, and an English side, with the name reversed. The international press followed the same conventions. Sometimes, to avoid confusion, Japanese people will capitalize their family name when filling out forms. Even in Japan itself, official government documents showed the given name first when the names are presented in the Latin alphabet.
Now some of that may be about to change. As of the first of this year, 2020, Japan will no longer put the given name first in official documents that are written in the Latin alphabet. The Japanese foreign minister Taro Ko—maybe I should say Kono Taro—has requested that world leaders follow suit when pronouncing Japanese names. The Olympics are coming to Tokyo this summer and Japan has asked television stations to identify athletes with their family names first.
It’s a popular move. Almost sixty percent of Japanese are in favor of restoring the traditional family-name-first convention in all cases. And why not? If 150 years ago, Japan had to bend to the Western world’s conventions to facilitate its rise, that is certainly not the case now. Westerners have little trouble with the names of the Chinese, Taiwanese, Hong Kongers, South Koreans or North Koreans; if they do, it’s just cause for minor embarrassment or an awkward moment.
There is another view. Some worry that reverting to the traditional name-ordering could send a signal to the world that Japan is retreating into itself, that it’s not as open to the rest of the world as it previously has been. By reversing the name order to fit the right context, Japanese people show flexibility and respect toward others’ customs. One person likened it to the dinner table. A Japanese person can use a fork and knife when eating at a Western table and switch to chopsticks back home.
This isn’t the only confusing aspect of Japanese names. Unlike in most countries, it is the law in Japan—the law—for two married people to have the same family name.
Either way works for me. The only thing I don’t want is for some people to want to be addressed one way and other people to want the opposite. That, I would have a hard time with.
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