Can someone smarter than me explain why one country will sometimes refer to another country using a different name than the people of that country use?
For example, here in the US, we call Germany Germany but Germans call Germany Deutschland.
Same thing with Japan/Nippon.
I can understand translating stuff like “The People’s Republic of _____”. But when it’s just a single proper noun, why not just go with the name they use? It’s their fucking country, shouldn’t they get to pick the name?
That’s like saying “I know you call yourself Bill, but I’m going to go ahead and call you Susan, mm’kay?”
Is it some sort of subtle “fuck you” to the other country?