Underground Railways
Cities with underground railway systems
Tôkyô Metro (incl. Tôyô Kôsoku and Saitama Kôsoku Railways)
Ôsaka (incl. Kita Ôsaka Kyûkô)
NOTE: Trains on the Sapporo system are rubber-tyred and run flat roll ways, guided by a central rail
Some frequently used place name elements
(often found in station names)
chô or machi - Subdivision of a ward or another larger geographical unit 町
chôme - counter for a chô 丁目
itchôme chô no.1 一丁目
nichôme chô no.2 二丁目
sanchôme chô no.3 三丁目
yonchôme chô no.4 四丁目
gochôme chô no.5 五丁目
- pronunciation of CH is like in “chore”, “chill”, or German “tschoo”
numbers: ichi (1) ni (2), san (3), yon (4), go (5) …
Nagata-chô – The district of Nagata (within a specific ward). 永田町
Japanese addresses in Tôkyô are most commonly structured as follows (for instance):
Tôkyô-to [Tokyo Metropolis] – Shinagawa-ku [Shinagawa Ward] – Nishi Gotanda nichôme [Nishi Gotanda, district no. 2] - ichi-ban [Block no. 1] - san-gô [group of houses no.3].
Or simply written Tôkyô-to, Shinagawa-ku, Nishi Gotanda 2-1-3.
東京都 品川区 西五反田二丁目 一番 三号
Outside central Tôkyô the following type of address is frequent: Tôkyô-to [Tokyo Metropolis] - Mitaka-shi [Mitaka City] - Shimo Renjaku nichôme [Shimo Renjaku, district no. 2] - sanban [Block no.3] - yongô [Group of houses no.4 ] (or simply written 2-3-4).
東京都 三鷹市 下連雀二丁目 三番 四号
For the City of Yokohama we might have: Kanagawa-ken [Kanagawa Prefecture] - Yokohama-shi [Yokohama City] - Kônan-ku [Kônan Ward] - Hino go-chôme [Hino, district no.5] - san-ban [Block no.3] - hachi-gô [Group of houses no.8], or simply written 5-3-8.
神奈川県 横浜市 港南区 日野五丁目 三番 八号
Sometimes -machi refers to the old or a common name for a district.
Especially in the country machi is a small town and / or an administrative unit.
ken – Prefecture 県
shi – City 市
ward – larger district within a city 区
mura – village 村
higashi – East 東
nishi – West 西
kita – North 北
minami – South 南
shin – new 新
mae – in front of 前
yama or san or zan – mountain, hill, height, knoll 山
naka – central, middle 中
hon – core (of a place) 本
tera or dera or ji – Buddhist temple 寺
dai – plateau, height 台
hara or bara – plain, field 原
oka or -ga-oka – rising ground 岡 or 丘
tani or dani or -ga-dani – valley, ravine 谷
kôen - park 公園
hashi or bashi – bridge 橋
ue – above 上
kami – higher 上
shita – below 下
shimo – lower 下
kawa or gawa – river, stream, brook 川 or 河