Japanese addressing system
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The Japanese addressing system is used to identify a specific location in Japan. In Japanese, addresses are written using the opposite convention from Western addresses, namely starting with the biggest geographical entities down to the more specific ones.
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[edit] Address parts
Japanese addresses begin with the largest division of the country, the prefecture. These are generally called ken (県), but there are also three other special prefecture types: to (都) for Tokyo, dō (道) for Hokkaidō and fu (府) for the two urban prefectures of Osaka and Kyoto.
Following the prefecture is the municipality. For a large municipality this is the city (shi, 市). Tokyo has both ordinary cities and special wards (ku, 区), each of which has the status of a city. For smaller municipalities, the address includes the district (gun, 郡) followed by the town (chō or machi, 町) or village (mura or son, 村).
The next element of the address is the location within the municipality. Many cities have wards (ku, 区), which in turn may be divided into machi or chō (町). Towns may have smaller parts with names like chō, ōaza (大字), or aza (字), or even smaller koaza (小字).
The final three elements of the address are the city district (chōme 丁目), the city block (banchi 番地) and finally the house number (gō 号). Chōme and banchi numbers are usually assigned by order of proximity to the center of the municipality. Gō numbers are usually assigned by clockwise order around the banchi city block. As these are all numbers, they are usually simply written as a string, 1-2-3, starting with the chōme and ending in the gō. In urban apartment buildings it is not unusual to add the apartment number as a fourth element. This three-element system is relatively new introduction, and is not completed in some areas such as older area of the cities or sparsely populated rural areas, where only the banchi is written after machi or aza.
Street names are seldom used in postal addresses (except in Kyoto and some Hokkaidō cities such as Sapporo), and most Japanese streets do not have names. Banchi blocks often have an irregular shape, as banchi numbers were assigned by order of registration in older system, meaning that especially in older areas of the city they will not run in a linear order. It is for this reason when giving directions to a location, most people will offer cross streets, visual landmarks and subway stations such as "at Chūō-dori and Matsuya-dori across the street from Matsuya and Ginza station", for a store in Tokyo. In fact, many businesses have maps on their literature and business cards. In addition, signs attached to utility poles often specify the city district name and block number, and detailed block maps of the immediate area are sometimes posted near bus stops and train station exits.
In addition to the address itself, all locations in Japan have a postal code. After the reform of 1998, this begins with the postal mark, 〒, followed by a three-digit number, a hyphen, and a four-digit number, for example 〒123-4567.
[edit] Address order
In Japanese, the address is written in order from largest unit to smallest, with the addressee's name last of all. For example, the address of the Tokyo Central Post Office is
- 〒100-8799
東京都千代田区丸の内二丁目7番2号
東京中央郵便局
- 〒100-8799
Tōkyō-to Chiyoda-ku Marunouchi ni-chōme nana-ban ni-go
Tōkyō Chūō Yūbin-kyoku
or
- 〒100-8799
東京都千代田区丸の内2-7-2
東京中央郵便局
The order is reversed when writing in roman letters, to better suit Western conventions. The format recommended by Japan Post is:
- Tokyo Central Post Office
7-2, Marunouchi 2-Chome,
Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 100-8799
In this address, Tokyo is the prefecture; Chiyoda-ku is one of the special wards; Marunouchi 2-Chome is the name of the city district; and 7-2 is the city block and building number. In practice it is common for the chōme to be prefixed, as in Japanese, resulting in the somewhat shorter
- Tokyo Central Post Office
2-7-2 Marunouchi, Chiyoda-ku
Tokyo 100-8799.
[edit] Special cases
As mentioned above, there are certain areas of Japan that use somewhat unique address systems. Sometimes the differing system has been incorporated into the official system, as in Sapporo, while in Kyoto the system is completely different from, but used alongside the official system.
[edit] Kyoto
Although the official addressing system is in use in Kyoto, the chō divisions are very small, numerous, and there is often more than one chō with the same name within a single ward, making the system extremely confusing. As a result, most residents of Kyoto use an unofficial system based instead on street names. It is however recognized by the post office.
The system works by naming the intersection of two streets and then indicating if the address is north (上ルagaru), south (下ルsagaru), east (東入ルhigashi-iru) or west (西入ルnishi-iru) of the intersection. What this means is that a building can have more than one address depending on which intersection is chosen.
The official address to Kyoto Tower [1] is:
〒600-8216
京都府京都市下京区東塩小路721-1
Higashi-Shiokōji 721-1, Shimogyō-ku, Kyōto-shi, Kyōto-fu 600-8216
However, the informal address to Kyoto Tower, as given on its website [2], is:
〒600-8216
京都府京都市下京区烏丸七条下ル
Karasuma-Shichijō-sagaru, Shimogyō-ku, Kyōto-shi, Kyōto-fu
This address means "south of the intersection of Karasuma and Shichijō streets."
However, the system is flexible and allows for various alternatives, such as:
京都府京都市下京区烏丸塩小路上ル
Karasuma-Shiokōji-agaru, Shimogyō-ku, Kyōto-shi, Kyōto-fu
"north of the intersection of Karasuma and Shiokōji streets"
For less well known buildings, the official address is often given after the informal one, as in the address for the Shinatora Ramen restaurant:
京都府京都市下京区烏丸通五条下ル大坂町384
Ōsakachō 384, Karasuma-dōri-Gojō-sagaru, Shimogyō-ku, Kyōto-shi, Kyōto-fu
"Ōsakachō 384, south of the intersection of Karasuma and Gojō streets"
[edit] Sapporo
Sapporo’s system, though official, differs in structure from regular Japanese addresses. The city is divided into quadrants at its centre by two intersecting roads. Blocks are then named based on their distance from this point. The east-west distance is indicated by chōme (which is a slightly different usage of chōme when compared to other cities), while the north-south distance is indicated by jō, which has been incorporated into the chō name.
The address to Sapporo JR Tower [3] is:
北海道札幌市中央区北五条西2-5
Kita-5-jō-Nishi 2-5, Chūō-ku, Sapporo-shi, Hokkaidō
This address indicates that it is the fifth building on a block located 5 blocks north and 2 blocks west of the centre.
Although the streets of Sapporo form a fairly clean grid, outside of the city centre it gets less and less practical to use the original grid starting point. In these cases an arbitrary dividing starting point is chosen from which to measure the counting of chōme and jō.
[edit] Ishikawa Prefecture
Some cities in Ishikawa Prefecture, including Kanazawa and Nanao, sometimes use Katakana with ordering of Iroha instead of numbers for blocks. These katakana are called bu (部).
For example, the address of the Kagaya Hotel [4] in Nanao is:
〒926-0192
石川県七尾市和倉町ヨ80
Wakuramachi yo 80, Nanao-shi, Ishikawa-ken 926-0192
[edit] History
The current addressing system was established after World War II as a slight modification of the scheme used since the Meiji era.
For historical reasons, names quite frequently conflict. In Hokkaidō many place names are identical to names found in the rest of Japan; this is largely the result of past immigration into Hokkaidō of people from mainland Japan. Historians note that there is also a significant similarity between place names in Kansai region and those in northern Kyūshū. See Japanese place names for more.
[edit] Gallery
 Two "chōme-name plates(町名板)" are with Romaji for people unable to read the Japanese. Left plate is Ginza 4 chōme road cross at 5 chōme 7-2, next to "Ginza 4 chōme koban", where the opposite side of main street from Wakō. Right plate is Shimbashi 2 chōme, block name is "underground city of (Shimbashi station) east exit (東口地下街)" without banchi number. |
 An older chōme address name plate in Kuwabara, a residential section of Matsuyama, Ehime. The address of this block in Japanese is 愛媛県松山市桑原４丁目3. |
