振り仮名 (Furigana), the small Japanese 仮名 (kana, letters) you see over kanji that help clarify 漢字の読み方 (kanji no yomikata, how to read the kanji), are currently drawing a lot of attention.
As the 改正戸籍法 (kaisei koseki hō, Revised Family Register Act) came into force on May 26, the Japanese government announced that 振り仮名 written in カタカナ (katakana) should be recorded for every citizen’s name in the 戸籍 (koseki, family register).
One of the things this revision aims to do is limit the use of so-called キラキラネーム (kira-kira 苍ē尘耻). キラキラ is an onomatopoeic term meaning “shiny and glittery,” while ネーム (苍ē尘耻) is the katakana rendering of “name,” which is usually written as 名前 (namae, name) in Japanese.
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.