KYODO NEWS - 5 hours ago - 16:20 | All, JapanThe government will follow the family-name-first order when using the Roman alphabet to write Japanese names on official documents from Jan. 1 next year, the education minister said Friday.
The ministries have agreed to use the family-name-first order, unless there are special circumstances, and write family names in all capitals if more clarity is needed.
The use of the family-name-first order was proposed by Defense Minister Taro Kono and former education minister Masahiko Shibayama.
The government has been working out the details after deciding to adopt the order following Shibayama's proposal at a Cabinet meeting in September.
In 2000, an advisory panel on Japanese language policy recommended that Japanese family names be written before given names when using Roman alphabet to respect the diversity of languages.