WNAM REPORT: Japan remains noncommittal at least for now over the United States’ renaming of the Gulf of Mexico to the “Gulf of America,” avoiding taking sides in what has become a politically sensitive issue.
Responding to questions during a Wednesday news conference, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said the government will continue to monitor related developments, but avoided confirming which name it will actually follow.
“In terms of the general rule (on how to deal with disputed foreign geographic names), it could potentially affect interactions between third countries. Therefore, the government would like to refrain from commenting,” he said.
Trump’s vow to rename the Gulf of Mexico — for which he signed a presidential order on his first day in office — has drawn a mix of confusion and ridicule.
While loyalists applauded when Trump made the vow in his inauguration speech, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who ran for president against Trump in 2016, was captured laughing at Trump’s remarks on live TV. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum ridiculed Trump’s order early on, and even jokingly proposed that North America be renamed “America Mexicana.”
Nevertheless, the order has been followed by corresponding actions. Google revealed on Jan. 28 that it will update the name in its Google Map service for American users, once the change is reflected in the government’s Geographic Names Information System.
Users in Mexico, however, will see the name unchanged while those outside of the two countries will see both names, the company said.
“When official names vary between countries, Maps users see their official local name. Everyone in the rest of the world sees both names. That applies here too,” the company said.
In Japan, while many institutions follow the Foreign Ministry’s list of names of countries and regions, there is no standardized system.
Japanese textbook and map publisher Teikoku Shoin told The Japan Times it will maintain Gulf of Mexico in maps and textbooks for the upcoming school year that starts in April, and will hold internal discussions to decide on the matter beyond that.
How the government decides to call a foreign place often reflects political deliberations.
Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Japanese government adopted the Ukrainian spelling of “Kyiv” to refer to the country’s capital in place of the previously used Russian spelling of “Kiev.”
There are also disputes between Japan and other countries over the names of certain regions. While the international community widely refers to the waters between Japan and the Korean Peninsula as the “Sea of Japan,” South Korea insists on the name “East Sea” whereas North Korea has proposed calling it the “East Sea of Korea.”
