I always was under the impression that a good portion of the news outlets that cite his name in the native order do so because they are fundamentally confused a

I always was under the impression that a good portion of the news outlets that cite his name in the native order do so because they are fundamentally confused about what part of it is the first name and what part is the family name, which might be because the surname (Yokō, with a long second o) looks like a well-known even in the West female first name (Yōko, with a long first o, cf. John Lennon's wife) in the standard romanisation that neither uses macrons nor mirrors the native orthography (which would give Yokou vs. Youko). See all the instances of him being referred to as "Taro" (i.e. what is actually his first name): [1] https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2018-04-13-yoko-taro-we-dont-need-to-think-globally-to-sell-globally https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2018-04-13-yoko-taro-... [2] https://www.wired.com/story/yoko-taro-nier-automata/ https://www.wired.com/story/yoko-taro-nier-automata/ etc.