needle in a haystack

I'm guessing another reason why japan is so difficult to conquer, and one of the very alien aspects, is the address system. I've heard that the seemingly completely random layout of houses and address' extends partly from a function - to confuse any potential threat - like visiting warriors. as a visiting warrior I can vouch that the system is successful - and that's with a pretty good sense of direction. I wonder if nature has a part to play as well - building around mountains and rivers, with space being at such a premium. whatever the reason, if a time-served taxi driver has to ask directions of you, it's a pretty difficult state of affairs.

so GPS or 'Navi' as its known in japan, is crucial, and not just for foriegners. japanese friends use it on a regular basis to find their way around town or find, for example, a restaurant with a parking lot. on the phone it can be priceless: I had to use it after we moved to our new neighbourhood for the first time, when I got confused by which railway line I'd just passed and took a wrong turning. it was slightly frightening. like being back in the shops with your mum, aged 4, looking around and not seeing anything familiar. I also got lost on the bike when I went over the mountains to a neighbouring county and got 'stuck' in a new suburban housing development. it was all over the place, but, remaining calm I whipped out the ketai and soon I was on my way: although the kanji is by and large unreadable for me, main roads and railways usually suffice as landmarks.

but it's strange, choto-hen, that I simply live near 'LIFE' (supermarket) or in Sumiyoshiku (with a population of around 175,000). all very ambiguous. In the UK people usually say "gardner street" or an equivalent, which can usually narrow people down to a handful of houses - but then our cities aren't on this scale. another strange thing, I suppose, would be that people tend to be able to store alot of street names in their head but not street numbers as is the case in Japan. there are no street names: a typical address being 5-11-23. easy to remember like a telephone number but difficult to connect to the jigsaw puzzle that is osaka.

so whats this 5-11-23 business anyway?
the last number, the 'twenty-three', corresponds with the lot the building is on and this can have several buildings on it. in japan this means anything from a factory or golf-driving range side by side with an apartment building (thus the conception that urban japan can be ugly). the numbers work their way around the block in a 'circle' - which brings us to the 'eleven'. this is the block itself: the 'banchi' and these really vary in shape and size like you wouldn't believe. just have a look at the map above and also note the seemingly random numbers.

the 'five' is then the neighbourhood or 'chome' as it is called - the chome being made up usually of several blocks. they in turn create a ward, village, town or city - in japan these are called ku, mura, machi, cho or shi respectively. these then make up a prefecture or county as would be the case in the UK.

on one hand it seems odd that such a technologically advanced country has such a chaotic system of living. on the other though with only 30 odd percent of the country's land habitable it seems natural that over time people have just developed what they could get there hands on. plots of land changing hands and the short life expectancy of buildings means that continual development has happened and presumably the ordered (apparent) chaos that we see today.

I suppose like so many things in japan, it's not silly but just different. it does seem to be difficult for most people though, although of course now-a-days you can simply send GPS coordinates to any visitors via your mobile.

it has to be said that everything feels a bit more like a treasure hunt when you have no street names to go by. which is fine provided you aren't in a hurry..........