I think taking people names as an example is extreme because when Japanese people give a name to a baby, they choose both a phonological sign and a kanji-based

I think taking people names as an example is extreme because when Japanese people give a name to a baby, they choose both a phonological sign and a kanji-based transcription: phonologically, they tend to pick quite a common name (like christian names in the west, contrasting it with the native-american names that are a lot more specific to the person), but try to be clever and original when it comes to writing it with kanjis. And I'm not even sure Amazon has an additional input field just for the sake of sorting names. Isn't this a common practice in the country ? (if I have to call a customer, how am I supposed to greet her if I can't pronounce her name ?)