I notice that, in your creative new service Google Earth, the name of the sea between the Asian continent and the Japanese Archipelago is renamed, from the official name which is used in the United Nations and most of international organizations, "Sea of Japan," to the controversial "East Sea." The original name "Sea of Japan" rightly illustrates the nature of the sea: if there were no Japanese archipelago, the sea area would be just a western part of vast Pacific Ocean. The sea area is separated from Pacific Ocean and made an inland sea by the Japanese Archipelago. The overwhelming majority of maps used in the world call this area the Sea of Japan in accordance with this fact. Recently, however, some people have been claiming that Japan forced the adoption and use of the name during the era when Japan governed the Korean Peninsula. They are spamming fiercely to major mapmakers who are not willing to accept their claim, trying to browbeat these mapmakers into giving way. History does not support this claim about the traditional name. Before the era when Japan ruled the Korean Peninsula, most maps already called this area the Sea of Japan. Moreover, inasmuch as the so-called "East Sea" is in both to the west and north of Japan and to the south of Russia, it is rather parochial to refer to it as the East Sea simply because it is to the east of Korea. Finally, "Sea of Japan" is much more common in journalism than "East Sea," as you can verify with a simple Google search.
I sincerely hope you will resist the pressure of the spamming special interest group and that you will adhere to the name of the sea which properly illustrates its nature and has been officially adopted by most international organizations.
Sincerely,
タイプ2 Korea insists on calling the Sea of Japan the "East Sea," but that name is unjustified for three reasons:
1) In March 2004, the United Nations Secretariat confirmed its policy that "Sea of Japan" is the standard geographical term and as such is to be used in official documents of the United Nations;
2) "East Sea" already refers to the East China Sea in China, and to the South China Sea in Vietnam. So the Korean usage causes confusion;
3) according to the investigation of the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 82% of old maps say "Sea of Japan," 7% of the old maps say "Sea of Korea," and only one map says "East Sea."
*Old maps: 1285 European world maps which were published of the 19th century. (Owned by Library of Congress).