Why are there no street names in Japan?

Today I found out most streets in Japan don’t have names. In Japan, they use a very different addressing system than is used in most Western countries. Rather than streets having names (the space in between blocks), they give blocks numbers and leave the space in between the blocks, streets, nameless.

How do street names work in Japan?

Most streets in Japan have no name. They use a different addressing system than what is used in Western countries. Imagine strolling through a city street and having no street names to find the place you are going to. It sounds like a confusing nightmare, but that’s the way things operate in Japan.

What does Shi mean in Japanese address?

city
Shi means “city”. It is a designation that is given to a geographic entity that has sufficient population to earn it. For example, Sapporo, Chiba, Yokohama, Kobe, and Hiroshima are given the -shi suffix. Tokyo-to has 26 -shi within its administrative borders, for example, Chōfu and Hachiōji. [Name] -Ku (区).

What is house numbering in Japan?

Rather than streets being identifiers like in the United States, the streets in Japan are used to create block numbers (Japan Info, 2015). These block numbers are then used to segment different areas. Buildings within these areas are then numbered based upon the date that they were built.

How do they decide street names?

In the United States, most streets are named after numbers, landscapes, trees (a combination of trees and landscapes such as “Oakhill” is used often in residential areas), or the surname of an important individual (in some instances, it is just a commonly held surname such as Smith).

What is chome Banchi?

Understanding Block Numbers With the “chome” system, cities are divided into districts 丁目 (chome). Then, each block in the district is numbered 番地, pronounced “banchi.” Finally, each building in the block is numbered 号, pronounced “go.”

How do Japanese street addresses work?

Japanese addresses If addresses are written in Japanese, they start with the postal code, followed by the prefecture, city and subarea(s), and end with the recipient’s name. If addresses are written in English, they start with the recipient’s name and end with the prefecture and postal code.