Japanese street address

From IkataWiki

Japanese street addresses work quite differently from American ones. When written in Japanese, the order of specificity of place names is essentially "backwards." This means that while American addresses go from specific to general, Japanese addresses go from general to specific.

Reading Japanese addresses

The address of Ikata's town office in Japanese is

〒796-0301
愛媛県西宇和郡伊方町湊浦1993-1

• The first line is the zip code
• The address itself is written all in one line
• The addressee's name goes after the address

The address above breaks down as follows:

	Prefecture	(City + Ward) or (District + Town)	Neighborhood	Plot number
Japanese	愛媛県	西宇和郡伊方町	湊浦	1993-1
Rōmaji	Ehime-ken	Nishiuwa-gun Ikata-chō	Minatoura
English	Ehime Prefecture	Nishiuwa District: Town of Ikata	Minatoura neighborhood

Writing Japanese addresses

When writing a Japanese address in Rōmaji, or English characters, use American-style specific to general notation.

1993-1 Minatoura
Ikata-chō, Nishiuwa-gun
Ehime-ken 796-0301

Trivia

Japan's current 7-digit zip codes specify the address down to the "Neighborhood" level. As long as you make sure the

• zip code,
• plot number,
• and addressee's name

are correct, post items should get through ok.