The publisher of Kojien, the most authoritative dictionary in Japan, has been stuck between a rock and a hard place over its definition of Taiwan as a province of China, prompting a request for a correction from the self-ruled island. Since its first publication in 1955, the dictionary has become a household name. The media and other organizations often use it to get the final say on a word's meaning. The seventh edition is slated to be released next month. On Friday, Iwanami Shoten, the publisher, said Kojien's entry on Taiwan is in line with the 1972 Japan-China Joint Communique, in which Japan recognized the People's Republic of China as the sole legal government of China and "fully understands and respects" the PRC's stance that Taiwan is an inalienable part of its territory.

An updated version of the nation's most authoritative Japanese-language dictionary has added 10,000 new words, including "hanii torappu" (honey trap), "biggu mausu" (big mouth) and "karēshū" (an old person's distinctive smell), the publisher said. The Kojien dictionary was first published in 1955 by Iwanami Shoten with about 200,000 words. Since then it has become a household reference, while media outlets and other high-profile organizations often use it as the final say on a given word's meaning. Other new entries include "apuri" (app), "burakku kigyō" (exploitative firms with bad working conditions), "Isuramu-koku" (Islamic State), "LGBT," "konkatsu" (marriage hunting), "jidori" (selfie) and "diipu rāningu" (deep learning). At its peak, the publisher sold as many as 2.6 million copies of its third edition, which was published in December 1983.