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Learning English from the News

Upper intermediate level

Japan bans baby names like Pikachu and Kitty

Episode 251224 / 24 Dec 2025

(Photo: Getty Images)

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The story

Japan has changed the law to stop people naming their babies things like Pikachu and Kitty.

New rules have come in on the pronunciation of ‘kanji’, the Chinese characters used as one of the three forms of Japanese writing.

The change is designed to prevent unofficial pronunciations of the kanji characters. In recent times, these unusual interpretations of the characters have allowed people to call their children names which are seen as strange or silly by the authorities.

News headlines

Japan introduces rules to put outlandish baby names to bed
The Guardian

You can’t call your baby that… Japan limits the choice of baby names to stop “flashy” ones
Euro Weekly

Don’t do it: Japan takes aim at baby names like ‘Nike’ with new rules on kanji readings
South China Morning Post

Key words and phrases

put something to bed
deal with a problem successfully

  • The company put to bed threats of strikes by offering workers a big pay rise.

flashy
describes something expensive or designed to attract attention

  • The singer arrived at the awards ceremony in a flashy car.

take aim at something
try to deal with an issue; criticise something.

  • She took aim at her rival for the job promotion by pointing out all his weaknesses.

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