Curious.

During an idle moment (whilst awaiting word back from a client), I idly pointed Google Maps at Russia.

All the city names are in Cyrillic characters, with no transliteration (nor English names, where different) provided.

Chinese cities are labeled in Chinese, with transliterations.

Japanese city names are in Japanese, with no subtitles.

South Korea has no cities at all.  (Neither does North Korea, but They're Not On The Net.)  I can see them in the satellite view, but they're unmapped.

The various Lands of Right-to-Left Squiggles all have their cities labeled in the Roman alphabet, only, except for Israel, which has no cities.

Greece gets Greek city names, sans subtitles.  Thailand, likewise, except of course in Thai.

Fascinatingly inconsistent.