What does Shinzo Abe’s name change have to do with colonialism and ‘unenlightened Westerners’?

Experts say the request is consistent with Abe’s nationalist views, while others point to Tokyo no longer wanting to provide cultural concessions to the West

But as people in North America and Europe are reclaiming how they want to be referenced, some see it as time for Asians to take ownership of their names

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Abe Shinzo, the Prime Minister of Japan. Photo: Bloomberg

Published: 9:20pm, 22 May 2019Updated: 8:50pm, 23 May 2019

The Japanese government has a message for the English-speaking world – say our prime minister’s name correctly.

On Tuesday, Japan asked that the premier be referred to as Abe Shinzo – family name first, given name second – not Shinzo Abe, as he’s been known in international media since taking office in 2012.

Foreign Minister Taro Kono – or Kono Taro, going by the new guidelines – explained that the request was intended to bring international news coverage of Abe in line with that of Chinese President Xi Jinping and South Korean President Moon Jae-in, both of whom are typically referred to in reports with their family name first.

Japanese place their surnames first when speaking or writing in their native language, although they often follow the Western style when using English under mores believed to date back to the country’s opening to the outside world during the Meiji era (1868–1912).

But the country’s new Reiwa era, which began on May 1 with the coronation of Emperor Naruhito, may have heralded a change in approach.

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