Japan Increasingly Using English Words for Subway Station Names

In Japan the increasing use of English words in subway station names is drawing some criticism:

 

Following a recent naming trend that mixes Japanese and English words, Tokyo Metro Co. has announced that a new station set to open ahead of the 2020 Games will be called Toranomon Hills.

Toranomon Hills is the name of a skyscraper housing a business complex in the namesake district of Minato Ward. The station is under construction in an area between Kasumigaseki and Kamiyacho Stations on the Hibiya Line, seven minutes on foot from the supermodern, 52-story structure, which opened in June 2014.

The announcement Wednesday came a day after East Japan Railway Co. announced that a new station on the Yamanote Line between Shinagawa and Tamachi stations would be called Takanawa Gateway. JR East’s new station is scheduled to partially open in the spring of 2020, with full operations beginning in 2024.  [Japan Times]

You can read the rest at the link, but it seems to me that using English for stations linked to the 2020 Olympics makes sense.  Even nearby Korea uses English words for subway station names in Seoul such as “Seoul-forest”, “Ttukseom Park”, “Konkuk University”, etc.

However, some people have had fun with the English names for Tokyo subway stops by offering these recommended changes:

山手線改め山手メトロポリタンループラインの路線図です。ご査収ください。 pic.twitter.com/Fy0DRxcqXK

— くらげ (@kurage60) December 4, 2018

Does anyone have any good recommendations for changing subway station stop names in Seoul to English? I guess an obvious one would be to rename Itaewon Station to “Hooker Hill Station”.