Editing Japanese addressing system (section)

==Address parts==
[[File:Nakamura-ward meieki Sag.jpg|thumb|right|200px|A {{nihongo|town block indicator plate|街区表示板|gaiku-hyōjiban}} displaying the address Nakamura-ku, [[Meieki]] 4-chōme, 5-banchi (in [[Nagoya]])]]

Japanese addresses begin with the largest division of the country, the [[Prefectures of Japan|prefecture]]. Most of these are called ''ken'' (県), but there are also three other special prefecture designations: ''to'' (都) for [[Tokyo]], ''dō'' (道) for ''[[Hokkaidō]]'' and ''fu'' (府) for the two urban prefectures of [[Osaka Prefecture|Osaka]] and [[Kyoto Prefecture|Kyoto]].

Following the prefecture is the [[Municipalities of Japan|municipality]]. For a large municipality this is the [[cities of Japan|city]] (''shi'', 市). Cities that have a large enough population (greater than 500,000 residents) and are regarded as such by order of the [[Cabinet of Japan]] are called [[Cities designated by government ordinance of Japan|designated cities]], and are subdivided into [[wards of Japan|wards]] (''ku'', 区), where in the prefecture of [[Tokyo]], 23 of them are designated as the  {{Nihongo|[[Special wards of Tokyo|special ward]]|特別区|tokubetsu-ku}}<ref>{{Cite web|last=公益財団法人特別区協議会 Tokubetsu-ku Kyogikai|date=16 April 2019|title=特別区とは|trans-title=About Special wards|url=https://www.tokyo-23city.or.jp/chosa/tokubetsuku/whats.html|access-date=2020-11-02|website=www.tokyo-23city.or.jp|language=ja}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=トップページ|trans-title=Top page|url=http://www.tokyo23city-kuchokai.jp/|access-date=2020-11-02|website=www.tokyo23city-kuchokai.jp|publisher=特別区長会 (Mayors of Special Wards)|language=ja}}</ref> with added authority to the mayors. For smaller municipalities, the address includes the [[districts of Japan|district]] (''gun'', 郡) followed by the [[Towns of Japan|town]] (''chō'' or ''machi'', 町) or [[villages of Japan|village]] (''mura'' or ''son'', 村). In Japan, a city is separate from districts, which contain towns and villages.

For addressing purposes, municipalities may be divided into ''chō'' or ''machi'' (two different readings of the character 町,  depending on the particular case) and/or ''aza'' (字).  Despite using the same character as town, the ''machi'' here is purely a unit of address, not administration; likewise, there are also ''ku'' address divisions that are not administrative special wards.  There are two common schemes:

# Municipality is divided first into ''machi'' and then into city districts (丁目 ''chōme'').  Example: 台東区[浅草四丁目] (Taito-''ku'', [Asakusa, 4-''chōme''])
# Municipality is divided into ''ō-aza'' (大字), which may be divided into ''aza'' (字), which may in turn be divided into ''ko-aza'' (小字).  Example: 青森市[大字滝沢字住吉] (Aomori-''shi'', [''ō-aza'' Takizawa, ''aza'' Sumiyoshi])

However, exceptions abound, and the line between the schemes is often blurry as there are no clear delimiters for ''machi'', ''aza'', etc.  There are also some municipalities like [[Ryūgasaki, Ibaraki]], which do not use any subdivisions.

Below this level, two styles of addressing are possible.

# In the newer {{nihongo||住居表示|'''jūkyo hyōji'''}} style, enacted into law by the {{Nihongo|1962 Act on Indication of Residential Address|住居表示に関する法律}}<ref>{{cite web|date=22 December 1999|title=住居表示に関する法律 : (昭和三十七年五月十日法律第百十九号, 最終改正：平成一一年一二月二二日法律第一六〇号) |trans-title=Jūkyo hyōji ni kansuru hōritsu (issued as Hōritsu No.119 as of 10 May 1962 with the latest revision: Hōritsu No.160 effective as of 22 December 1991)|url=http://law.e-gov.go.jp/htmldata/S37/S37HO119.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130130062226/http://law.e-gov.go.jp/htmldata/S37/S37HO119.html|archive-date=30 January 2013|access-date=26 May 2017|website=Law.e-gov.go.jp|language=ja}}</ref> and used by the majority of the country, the next level is the city block (街区 ''gaiku''), always followed by the building number (番号 ''bangō'').  Building 10 in block 5 would be formally written as 5番10号 (5-''ban'' 10-''gō'').  For apartment buildings, the apartment number (部屋番号 ''heya bangō'') may be appended to the building with a hyphen, so apartment 103 in the aforementioned building would be 5番10-103号.
# In the older {{nihongo||地番|chiban}} style, still used in some rural and older city areas, the next level is the area/block name (地区 ''chiku'', often abbreviated as 区 ''ku''), the next smaller level is the lot number (番地 ''banchi''), optionally followed by a lot number extension (formally {{nihongo||支号|''shigō''}}, more often {{nihongo||枝番|''edaban''}}).  The lot number designates a plot of land registered in the [[land registry]], and a lot number extension is assigned when a piece of land is divided into two or more pieces in the registry.  This can be written as any of 3番地5 (3-''banchi'' 5), 3番地の5 (3-''banchi-no'' 5) or 3番5 (3-''ban'' 5).  Land not designated by the registry is known as  ''mubanchi'' {{nihongo||無番地}}, with any dwellings there being ''bangaichi'' {{nihongo||番外地}}.

In both styles, since all address elements from ''chōme'' down are numeric, in casual use it is common to form them into a string separated by hyphens or the possessive suffix の (''no''),  resulting in Asakusa 4-5-10 or Asakusa 4の5の10.  This renders the two styles indistinguishable, but since each municipality adopts one style or the other, there is no risk of ambiguity.  The apartment number may also be appended, resulting in 4-5-10-103.

[[File:Kamimeguro-address.jpg|right|thumb|200px|A sign displaying the town address Kamimeguro 2 chōme; block (''gaiku'') 21, building (''bangō'') 9 identifies the residential address. The upper plaque is the district name plate (町名板, ''chōmei ban'') and the lower, the residential number plate (住居番号板, ''jūkyo bangō ban'').]]

[[Street name]]s are seldom used in postal addresses (except in [[Kyoto]] and some Hokkaidō cities such as [[Sapporo]]. See [[#Special cases|below]].)

''Banchi'' blocks often have an irregular shape, as ''banchi'' numbers were assigned by order of registration in the older system, meaning that especially in older areas of the city they will not run in a linear order.  For this reason, when giving directions to a location, people will often offer cross streets, visual landmarks and [[Tokyo Metro Ginza Line|subway]] stations, such as "at Chūō-dori and Matsuya-dori across the street from [[Matsuya Co., Ltd.|Matsuya]] and Ginza station" for a store in Tokyo. Many businesses feature maps on their literature and business cards. 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 stations in larger cities. 

In addition to the address itself, all locations in Japan have a [[Postal codes in Japan|postal code]].  After the reform of 1998, this begins with a three-digit number, a hyphen, and a four-digit number, for example 123-4567. A [[Japan postal mark|postal mark]], 〒, may precede the code to indicate that the number following is a postal code.