The Japanese government is cracking down on unique children’s names – here’s what it means

The Government programme, which will begin from September and follows a development phase and pilot scheme, aims to reduce the number of avoidable brain injuries during childbirth (Dominic Lipinski/PA) - (PA Archive)

Japan has introduced new rules to regulate how children’s names written in Chinese characters, kanji, are pronounced.

Kanji is one of the three core writing systems in Japanese, alongside hiragana and katakana. Originating from Chinese characters, kanji are logographic symbols that represent full words or ideas rather than sounds, making each character unique and meaningful on its own, according to Japanese tutor Alexa Bevan.