On the notation of "last name / first name", foreign media are not willing to listen even if requested by MOFA?

Recently CNN.co.jp reported the following:

日本人の「姓・名」表記、外務省が要請も外国メディアは聞く気なし？

2020.03.24 Tue posted at 17:53 JST

香港（ＣＮＮ Ｂｕｓｉｎｅｓｓ）  米紙ロサンゼルス・タイムズは１９７９年、中国の固有名詞のローマ字表記を変更し、首都北京は「Ｐｅｋｉｎｇ」から「Ｂｅｉｊｉｎｇ」に改めると発表した。

しかし、当時はこれを行き過ぎと受け止めるメディアもあり、シカゴ・トリビューン紙は１９９０年代までＰｅｋｉｎｇを使い続けた。一方、ニューヨーク・タイムズ紙は１９８６年、Ｂｅｉｊｉｎｇの採用を発表し、この表記が古い表記と同じくらいなじまれるようになったと指摘した。

そして今度は日本がそうした変化を求めている。外務省は昨年、新元号の制定を好機ととらえ、日本人の氏名の書き方を変更するよう外国メディアに要請した。

例えば「シンゾウ・アベ」は姓を最初にして「アベ・シンゾウ」とする。各国のメディアが中国の国家主席を「シー・チンピン」、韓国大統領を「ムン・ジェイン」と表記しているように。

もっとも英語メディアがその要請に応えてくれるまでにはまだ相当時間がかかりそうだ。

日本では昔から姓が最初に来る表記が使われていたが、明治時代に入って西洋にならい、英語の表記についてはこの順序がひっくり返された。

だが「姓」が最初に来る書き方に外国人が対応できることは、日本の近隣国が間もなく実証した。日本政府もほぼ２０年にわたり、明治時代に覆された順序を再び覆そうと試みており、今回の外国メディアに対する要請もその一環だった。

ただし変化が遅いのは外国人だけではない。ほとんどの日本人は、英語で自分の名を書く場合は姓を後にする書き方になれている。日本政府が首相をはじめとする高官の氏名表記を変えた今も、国内の英字紙などの大部分は依然として「シンゾウ・アベ」を使い続けている。

外務省広報によれば、２０１９年１１月の通達により、姓を最初にする形式を１月１日から全省庁で採用することになった。「日本人の氏名については、問題がなければ姓が最初に来る表記を検討するよう、メディア各社に要請している。だが判断については各社に委ねる」と広報は説明している。

今のところ、ほとんどの報道機関は、他社が変更しない限り率先して変更する意向は見せていない。日本の首相の名を「アベ・シンゾウ」と表記する大手報道機関は、ＣＮＮ Ｂｕｓｉｎｅｓｓが調べた限りでは見つからなかった。

ＣＮＮは現時点で「日本人の氏名については名前が最初で姓を後にする形式を使っている。日本の当局者も英語でのコミュニケーションではこの形式を使う傾向にある」とした。「ただしスタイルは進化するものであり、日本政府からの正式要請など重要な変更があれば、当然ながら再考する」と言い添えた。

Translation

 Hong Kong (CNN Business) - The Los Angeles Times announced in 1979 that it would change the Romanized notation of Chinese proper nouns, and that the capital, Beijing, would be changed from "Peking" to "Beijing."

However, at the time, some media took this as overkill, and the Chicago Tribune continued to use Peking until the 1990s. Meanwhile, the New York Times announced the adoption of Beijing in 1986, pointing out that this notation had become as familiar as the old one.

Then now Japan wanted such a change. Last year, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs saw the enactment of the new era as an opportunity to request foreign media to change the way Japanese names were written.

For example, “Shinzo Abe” would be named “Abe Shinzo” with the last name first, as the media in each country described the Chinese president as "Shin Chinpin" and the Korean president as "Mun jein".

But it seemed that it would take some time for English media to respond to the request.

In Japan, from time immemorial the notation with the last name had been used. However, in the Meiji era, this order was reversed in its English notation to follow the western style.

However, Japan’s neighboring countries soon proved that foreigners could respond to writing styles where the "last name" comes first. For almost two decades, the Japanese government had tried to overturn the Meiji era reversal order, and the request this time to foreign media was part of that.

However, it was not only foreigners that were slow in changing. Most Japanese when writing their name in English would write the surname after the given name as a method of writing. Even now, on the occasions when Japanese government announced changes in its senior official list starting with the prime minister, most of the country's English language newspapers and the like still continued to use "Shinzo Abe".

According to a Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman's announcement in November 2019, all ministries would adopt the family-name-first format from January 1. The announcement explained that “about the full name of the Japanese, we ask media companies to consider putting the family name of the Japanese first in their notation if there is no problem, but we will leave that decision to individual companies".

To date, most news agencies had not indicated that they would take the initiative unless others agencies took the lead to change. About labeling of the Japanese prime minister as "Abe Shinzo" by major news agencies, a study by CNN Business showed that no such thing could be found.

At the moment, CNN supposed that "regarding the full name of the Japanese, it is using the method of given-name-comes-first with the family name at the end. Japanese officials also tend to use this format when communicating in English," and added that "However, the style is evolving, and if there are significant changes, such as a formal request from the Japanese government, we will naturally reconsider it".

            The translation of Japanese (and Chinese) names into English is always an interesting matter. While English people use the given-name-first notation, both Japanese and Chinese use the family-name-first notation. I note that when English speaking scholars of Chinese history write the names of historical figures in modern China, they write them in English with the given-names-first notation as a general rule. The exception for that are the big names such as “Mao Tze-tung毛沢東”, “Chiang Kai-shek蔣介石” and “Sun Yat-sen孫中山”. Currently English newspaper reporters translate Chinese names base on pin-yin (i.e. pronunciation based), for example “Xi Jinping 習近平”. While pin-yin notation has the benefit of making no changes to the family-name-first writing style, English reader could be confused if they are not familiar with the name writing method of the Chinese and the Japanese.