Japan gov't to start using "family name first" order from Jan. 1

The 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.Respective ministries and agencies will notify related industries in the private sector of the government's decision, which breaks from a long tradition of reversing the name order in line with other languages such as English.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."We are not ex…READ FULL ARTICLE