The Japanese addressing system is used to identify a specific location in Japan.

Address elements

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The system, based on areas, starts from the biggest division, prefectures. They are suffixed with to (都, 'capital'), for Tokyo, fu (府, 'urban prefecture') for Osaka and Kyoto, dō (道, 'circuit') for Hokkaidō and ken (県, 'prefecture') for the rest. Conventionally, the cities of Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto are almost always referenced without to or fu, while Hokkaido is always with do; without it, Hokkai means simply 'North Sea'.

Prefectures are then divided into shi (市, 'city') and gun (郡, 'district'), analogous to counties in the United States. Unlike cities in the US, shi belong directly to prefectures (analogous to states in the US), without the county level in between. Big cities are usually divided into ku (区, 'ward'), which in turn are divided into machi and chō (both written 町, 'town'). In particular, Tokyo is divided into the 23 special wards, each of which is equivalent to a big city. Rural districts are subdivided into machi (町, 'town') and mura (村, 'village'). Subdivision under those rural municipalities are called chō or aza (字, 'letter'). It is customary to include the district name when writing the address, unlike counties in the US. See also Municipality of Japan.

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 (ban 番). Chōme and banchi numbers are usually assigned by order of proximity to the center of the municipality. Ban 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 ban. 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 not used in postal addresses (except for Kyoto and some Hokkaido cities such as Sapporo), and most Japanese streets don't even have names. Banchi blocks often have irregular shape, or 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 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 Chuo-dori and Matsuya-dori across the street from Matsuya and Ginza station," for the Apple Store in Tokyo. In fact, many small 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 is a seven-digit number written in the format 〒 DDD-DDDD, where the symbol 〒 (yūbin) means 'post code'.

Address order

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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 Apple Store in Ginza, Tokyo ^* is:

〒104-0061
東京都中央区銀座3-5-12
サヱグサビル本館
Apple Store

However, the order is usually reversed when writing in Roman letters, to better suit Western conventions. The format recommended by Japan Post is:

Apple Store
Sayegusa Honkan
5-12, Ginza 3-Chome,
Chuo-ku, Tokyo 104-0061

where Tokyo is a prefecture, Chuo-ku is a special ward, 3-Chome Ginza is the name of a city district, 5-12 is the city block and building number, and Sayegusa Honkan is the name of the building at which the store resides. In practice it is common for the chōme to be prefixed, as in Japanese, resulting in the somewhat shorter

Apple Store
Sayegusa Honkan
Ginza 3-5-12 Chuo-ku
Tokyo 104-0061

History

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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 Hokkaido many place names are identical to names found in the rest of Japan; this is largely the result of past immigration into Hokkaido of people from mainland Japan. Historians note that there is also a significant similarity between place names in Kinki region and those in northern Kyushu. See Japanese place name for more.

References

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• Japanese telephone directory

Communications in Japan | Postal systems by country | Government of Japan

Postadressen in Japan | 住所