Sir

I have just returned from yet another seminar where the speaker scrupulously named all his colleagues and competitors when referring to their work, except for those from Japan, who were lumped together as “a Japanese group”.

As I assume that most of my fellow scientists are not racists, I can only infer that they are too lazy and/or discourteous to bother to remember unfamiliar Japanese names.

If Japanese scientists can learn Western names, why can't we learn theirs?