Japanese Government Helps Determine Names
Those were a few of the 578 additional Japanese characters the Justice Ministry said Friday it might allow parents to use in names for children.
Like mothers and fathers in other countries, Japanese parents agonize over the naming of a child. With tens of thousands of Japanese characters — or kanji, based on Chinese ideograms — to choose from, the possibilities would seem limitless.
And that's exactly what the government wants to avoid.
"The average person can only read and write between 2,000 to 3,000 characters. The government made the law because it would be too inconvenient not to be able to read people's names," Justice Ministry official Yoshikazu Nemura said.
Tokyo first imposed restrictions on names just after World War II ended. Periodically, the list has been revised to reflect changes in the lexicon.
Japanese law now restricts names to a list of 2,232 characters. A child whose name contains a banned character can't be entered in the family register — an official document required for all Japanese nationals — until the name is change.
Most names connote certain traits: fortitude and strength for men; grace and beauty for women. But unusual names have been on the rise in recent years, as parents opt for originality over tradition.
Nemura said recent revisions have sought to lengthen the list, with the most recent changes, in 1990, adding 118 characters. Characters that mean evil or death often get nixed, he said.
But because the ministry considers characters that most commonly appear in print, the list of proposals can range from the cute to the bizarre — to the downright horrifying.
Among those that were proposed this year at the public's request were characters for "turnip" and "strawberry." "Beetle," "frog," "sardine" and "spider" would also be permitted.
Some that might confuse are the word for "me" used by men or "who." There was also "agony" and "chew" and, more shockingly, "cancer" and "dung."
Public feedback and a government-appointed panel of scholars will cast votes to draw up a final list in September.
"There are some that might be difficult to make a name out of," acknowledged top government spokesman, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroyuki Hosoda.
But Masachi Osawa, a professor of comparative sociology at Kyoto University, thinks the longer the list, the better.
"People should be free to choose. I am in favor of a broader range of options," said Osawa.
The law has caused problems for some Japanese in the past.
Like mothers and fathers in other countries, Japanese parents agonize over the naming of a child. With tens of thousands of Japanese characters — or kanji, based on Chinese ideograms — to choose from, the possibilities would seem limitless.
And that's exactly what the government wants to avoid.
"The average person can only read and write between 2,000 to 3,000 characters. The government made the law because it would be too inconvenient not to be able to read people's names," Justice Ministry official Yoshikazu Nemura said.
Tokyo first imposed restrictions on names just after World War II ended. Periodically, the list has been revised to reflect changes in the lexicon.
Japanese law now restricts names to a list of 2,232 characters. A child whose name contains a banned character can't be entered in the family register — an official document required for all Japanese nationals — until the name is change.
Most names connote certain traits: fortitude and strength for men; grace and beauty for women. But unusual names have been on the rise in recent years, as parents opt for originality over tradition.
Nemura said recent revisions have sought to lengthen the list, with the most recent changes, in 1990, adding 118 characters. Characters that mean evil or death often get nixed, he said.
But because the ministry considers characters that most commonly appear in print, the list of proposals can range from the cute to the bizarre — to the downright horrifying.
Among those that were proposed this year at the public's request were characters for "turnip" and "strawberry." "Beetle," "frog," "sardine" and "spider" would also be permitted.
Some that might confuse are the word for "me" used by men or "who." There was also "agony" and "chew" and, more shockingly, "cancer" and "dung."
Public feedback and a government-appointed panel of scholars will cast votes to draw up a final list in September.
"There are some that might be difficult to make a name out of," acknowledged top government spokesman, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroyuki Hosoda.
But Masachi Osawa, a professor of comparative sociology at Kyoto University, thinks the longer the list, the better.
"People should be free to choose. I am in favor of a broader range of options," said Osawa.
The law has caused problems for some Japanese in the past.
