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Why most streets in Japan have no name

Japanese addresses point to a block, not a street. How the system works, and how to find a place in Tokyo without getting lost.

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4 min read

A narrow street between apartment buildings in Meguro, Tokyo, at sunset
Photo by Monineath Horn on Unsplash

Ask someone in Tokyo which street they live on, and there is a fair chance they won’t have an answer. They aren’t being vague. Across most of Japan, the street simply has no name. Major avenues do, and so do some shopping streets, but the lanes most people walk down to get home are just the gaps between blocks.

If you grew up with “120 Main Street,” that sounds like a recipe for chaos. In practice the system works. It just starts from a different idea: a Japanese address describes an area, not a line.

Addresses run from big to small

A Japanese address starts with the prefecture and narrows down, layer by layer, to the building. After the city and the neighborhood come three numbers, usually written together with hyphens, like 2-14-5:

  • chōme: a numbered subdivision of the neighborhood;
  • banchi: the block within that subdivision;
  • gō: the building number within the block.

So “2-14-5” means the second subdivision, block 14, building 5. The street never shows up because it doesn’t need to. The block is the unit that matters.

The numbers don’t run the way you’d expect

The order of the numbers is what trips people up. In many areas, buildings are numbered under a system introduced by a 1962 law, which counts entrances going clockwise around the block. Two buildings side by side may have consecutive numbers, but the one across the lane sits on a different block with its own sequence.

Areas that never adopted that system are harder still. There, the number comes from the plot’s entry in the land registry, and neighboring plots may have been registered decades apart. You can end up with number 12 next to number 3, and number 7 two blocks away.

Kyoto does it differently

Kyoto is the best-known exception. Its center was laid out as a grid, modeled on Chinese imperial capitals, and the grid streets have names. Addresses there often name an intersection and tell you which way to go from it:

  • agaru: go up, meaning north;
  • sagaru: go down, south;
  • higashi-iru: head in to the east;
  • nishi-iru: head in to the west.

A Kyoto address can read like walking directions: go to the corner of this street and that one, then head north. For visitors, it is easier to follow than Tokyo’s block numbers.

How people find their way

Before smartphones, people in Japan had three tools, and all of them are still in use.

The first is signage. Utility poles and walls carry small plates with the chōme and banchi of that spot, and near stations you’ll usually find a neighborhood map with the numbered blocks. With the address in hand, you check the plates as you go.

The second is the kōban, the small neighborhood police box. Officers know the area by heart, keep detailed maps and spend a good part of the day giving directions. Asking at a kōban is as ordinary as asking at a corner shop.

The third is the hand-drawn map. Shops, restaurants and clinics often put a little map on their website or business card, showing the nearest station exit and the landmarks along the way. Party invitations sometimes come with one too.

What this means when you travel

Your phone will handle most of it, but a few things help:

  • Save the full address with all three numbers. The neighborhood name alone is not enough.
  • Note the nearest station and the exit number. Big Tokyo stations have dozens of exits, and the wrong one can add ten minutes of walking.
  • If GPS drifts between tall buildings, look for the plates on utility poles and compare numbers.
  • When in doubt, the nearest kōban is the best help you’ll find.

After a few days the system starts to click. You stop looking for the street and start looking for the block, which is how Japanese addresses were designed to be read. On the other side of the world, Costa Rica solved the same problem another way: there, an address starts from a landmark.

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