The board of the steering committee at the House of Councilors, the upper chamber of parliament, decided Thursday to change the English name of the chamber to the Senate.

In line with the name change, its members will be called senators.

The change comes as the upper chamber’s current name sometimes causes confusion outside of Japan about its members’ status as lawmakers, as councilors can mean members of a council.

According to the secretariat, the upper chamber of many bicameral legislatures abroad is referred to as the Senate, and its members are called senators.