Every human has their own name, a fundamental aspect of their identity and cultural heritage. The name often conveys a wealth of information, including details about an individual's background, ethnicity, and, especially, their gender. By detecting gender through the analysis of names, researchers can unlock valuable insights into linguistic patterns and cultural norms, which can be applied to practical applications. Hence, this work presents a novel dataset for Japanese name gender detection comprising 64,139 full names in romaji, hiragana, and kanji forms, along with their biological genders. Moreover, we propose Gendec, a framework for gender detection from Japanese names that leverages diverse approaches, including traditional machine learning techniques or cutting-edge transfer learning models, to predict the gender associated with Japanese names accurately. Through a thorough investigation, the proposed framework is expected to be effective and serve potential applications in various domains.

Video game maker Nintendo has announced it has changed the Japanese name of the foreman from The Super Mario Bros. Movie, ahead of the film's release in Japan later this month. The character, who first featured as an enemy of Mario in the 1980s game Wrecking Crew, will have its name changed from Blackie to Spike in Japanese, as he has been known to Western fans of the video game for the past three decades. Nintendo did not immediately provide a reason for the decision to change the name, which is a racist slur in Western countries. It noted that the new Japanese name will be the same as the name used in Europe and the United States. 'The name in "The Super Mario Bros. Movie," which will be released on April 28, 2023, will be "Spike" as well,' the company wrote in a tweet posted to its official Japanese Twitter account last Thursday.

Foreign Minister Taro Kono plans to ask overseas media outlets to write the names of Japanese people with the family name first, as is customary in the Japanese language. If realized, the new policy would mark a major shift in the country's long-running practice for handling Japanese names in foreign languages -- which began in the 19th to early 20th centuries amid the growing influence of Western culture. At a news conference Tuesday, Kono said that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's name should be written as "Abe Shinzo," in line with other Asian leaders such as Chinese President Xi Jinping and South Korean President Moon Jae-in. Now is the right time to make the change, given that the Reiwa Era has just begun and several major events -- including next month's Group of 20 summit and the 2020 Tokyo Olympics -- are approaching, Kono said. "I plan to ask international media organizations to do this. Domestic media outlets that have English services should consider it, too," he said, citing a report released in 2000 by the education ministry's National Language Council that said it was desirable to write Japanese names with the family name first in all instances.

Computers may have become smart enough to beat humans in the world's most complicated board game, but occasionally, they get confused by something as simple as a name. Due to the nature of certain computer systems, some names will bring up error messages or even crash websites, potentially blocking users from entering important information. Names may just be too long for particular online forms to bear, or for people with the last name'Null,' the problem lies in the language of programming. Computers may have become smart enough to beat humans in the world's most complicated game, but sometimes, they get confused by something as simple as a name. People with the last name'Null,' have grown accustomed to the difficulties presented by the word.