Why カザフスタン for Kazakhstan?


Why not カザクスタン ? [The Cyrillic word does have a
k](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kazakhstan) (but I am not sure whether is is
actually pronounced).




At least in the last few decades, when Japanese people katakanize foreign
words, they do so based on the sound of the original language, not on how it
was adopted in English. For example, Eiffel Tower is エッフェル塔, not アイフェル塔,
because [its French pronunciation](https://forvo.com/word/tour_eiffel/#fr) is
closer to エッフェル. Johann Sebastian Bach is バッハ, not バック nor バッカ, because [its
German pronunciation](https://forvo.com/word/johann_sebastian_bach/#de) is
like バッハ. I know nothing about Russian, but according to the [Russian
pronunciation of
Kazakhstan](https://forvo.com/word/%D0%BA%D0%B0%D0%B7%D0%B0%D1%85%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B0%D0%BD/#ru)
, I think カザフスタン is reasonable.

