Asian Culture – The order of Japanese and Chinese names

Upon reviewing my stats on Site Meter, it appears that many people had visited my blog when search the following keywords:

  • What is the first names of Arashi members?
  • Arashi members first names
  • What is Ohno Satoshi’s first name?

This is quite intriguing. Though, I am not surprised that this topic provides confusion to many people since the Western name structure differs.  Mainly due to the interchangeable order of Asian names.

In Eastern culture,  a name usually consist of one’s surname/family name followed by a given name. Middle names are not generally used.  However, many tend to Westernized their names by the “surname–given-name” order to “given-name–surname” to simplify the confusion.  Unfortunately, this does not provide clarity. Though, many talents such as the Arashi members use the “surname-given-name” order, publications and other media sources may use otherwise, depending on the statistics on trends, popularity, etc.

Here are some “surname–given-name” examples….

Japanese names

Let’s start with Matsumoto Jun (松本潤). Matsumoto (松本) is his surname while Jun (潤) is his given name.

Here are additional examples with the rest of the Arashi members!

Surname First/Given Name
Ohno (大野) Satoshi(智)
Sakurai (櫻井) Sho (翔)
Aiba (相葉) Masaki (雅紀)
Ninomiya (二宮) Kazunari (和也)

Japanese names are usually written in kanji, which are characters of Chinese origin with Japanese pronunciation. Additional forms of the Japanese writing system include hiragana or katakana. Thus, a name could be written in several forms:

Romaji Kanji Hiragana
Matsumoto Jun 松本潤 まつもと じゅん
Ohno Satoshi 大野智 おおの さとし
Ninomiya Kazunari 二宮和也 にのみや かずなり
Sakurai Sho 櫻井翔 さくらい しょう
Aiba Masaki 相葉雅紀 あいば まさき

Chinese names

Damian Lau Chung-Yan (劉松仁) will be the example. Lau (劉) is his surname while Chung-Yan (松仁) is his given. In most cases, the English name is placed prior to the full Chinese name, however, it could be less significant in some countries, and placed afterwards.

The Chinese writing system also consist of two forms – traditional and simplified. Traditional Chinese is mostly used in the Republic of China (Taiwan), Hong Kong and Macau, as well as in overseas Chinese communities. Simplified Chinese was adopted People’s Republic of China in the 20th century.

Traditional Chinese Simplified Chinese
劉松仁 刘松仁

Hope you enjoy this very mini lesson as much as I did writing it. I’m thinking about writing some more every now and then, just for the fun of it. Free free to comment, I would love to hear your thoughts, both good and bad.

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Hiroshi Tamaki’s New Drama – Love Shuffle

Some wonderful news, Tamaki-kun hasn’t been on the small screen for several month now,  definitely miss him. Found an old article on Tokyography regarding this new drama:

Screenwriter Shinji Nojima is working on an upcoming TBS drama series titled “Love Shuffle.” The romantic comedy will star several popular actors, including Hiroshi Tamaki, Karina, Shota Matsuda, and Shihori Kanjiya.

Tamaki plays a manager at an IT company who breaks off his engagement to the president’s daughter (Kanjiya). Later at his apartment, a power failure leaves him trapped in an elevator with three other residents (Karina, Matsuda, and Shosuke Tanihara). While waiting, their conversation hits upon the question of whether there is truly only one fated partner for everyone. As a result, they decide to run an experiment by “shuffling” their relationships with one another.

“Love Shuffle” premieres on January 16 and will air every Friday at 10:00pm.

The plot is interesting with the shuffling, I’m think its the exchange of partners to enhance/liven up your current relationship. Seems like a fun drama with a cast of wonderful actors alongside Tamaki-kun such as Katrina, Matsuda Shota and Tanihara Shosuke.

Official website is also up at ラブシャッフル.

Credit: TBS
Credit: TBS

Short CM:
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1E94ma5TIo

Tamaki-kun looks quite handsome in the suit.

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Ohno Satoshi – More news on Uta no Oniisan

Was browsing through Youtube and found a new clip regarding Oh-chan’s new drama, I would say its a preview or CM. The drama looks good so far and Riida is adorable here. Definitely looking forward to seeing it, only thirteen days until the first episode airs.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fR-b5_dOTJY

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