Japanese Twitter users have noticed and are complaining (tongue in cheek faux “how dare you” angry Greta style) that Apple Maps no longer displays the Sea of Japan name in English or even Japanese language and region settings. It appears to be Apple’s answer to recent South Korean failed attempts to get international recognition of ‘East Sea’ instead of, or in conjunction with Sea of Japan. For reference Google Maps display the Sea of Japan but Google also uses different place naming depending on the device region setting, a realistic and practical approach in dealing with nations calling a location with different naming conventions.
Some suggested that Apple might be preparing to follow the practical Google Map naming approach, but after more than a year of no name instead of Sea of Japan it seems to be permanent. This is Apple playing international politics. Removing the Sea of Japan altogether, even scrubbing all references from Siri and maps search as well is a boneheaded move that appeases nobody. It is the worst kind of big tech censorship we don’t need.
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