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How does giving directions work in Japan? I'm struggling to understand how this would translate, "Go north three miles on High St. Turn left onto 2nd street an

How does giving directions work in Japan? I'm struggling to understand how this would translate, "Go north three miles on High St. Turn left onto 2nd street and go 500m. Then take Park Ave south for 100m."

kbolino 2y ago
As far as I can tell, in a dense Japanese city, directions start relative to a particular train station, then use distances and landmarks to go from there.
- redwall_hp 2y ago
  That's pretty much how directions work outside of major cities in the US too, except for a lack of train stations, and the more rural you get the more landmarks are replaced with shibboleths. "Go about ten minutes that way until you see the old Smith farm. [The Smiths haven't lived there for three generations.] Then take a left and head five minutes down Mill Road. [It's actually called something else, has never had a mill on it in its entire history, but is called that by the locals nonetheless.]" Eventually you start wondering when you tripped and fell into a Discworld novel.
  - jiveturkey 2y ago
    I even hear these kind of place names on fire/police radio.
  - kalleboo 2y ago
    As well characterized by Slim Dusty and Ernie Constance in "Just can't miss it, mate" https://archive.org/details/ka-you-just-cant-miss-it-mate https://archive.org/details/ka-you-just-cant-miss-it-mate
  - inopinatus 2y ago
    In the UK and Ireland you navigate by pubs, since it is topologically impossible to traverse any connected area without passing at least one pub. The granularity of directions is therefore highest in Dublin (c.f. Joyce, Ulysses, 1922)
thatswrong0 2y ago
When I was in Tokyo, it was basically: 1) Go to / be pointed the nearest train station, then ask random people for help close by if still can't see the number somewhere or parse the names. People all over are super willing to help even with a language barrier. They'll usually point you up a few streets, at landmarks, or general direction. I'd often end up having to ask like 4 people on the way lol 2) If you're meeting with friends, you meet at the train station then go from there. I don't know how anyone got around there before mapping software.
- resolutebat 2y ago
  I lived in Tokyo before Google Maps, and the answer was: printed maps. Every business card had a map on the back, every ad for an event had a map, every personal invitation had a hand-drawn map. But yeah, if you were going somewhere as a group, you'd meet at a known point (outside train station etc) and then head over together. If you were roughing it on your own and only had the address, things got more interesting. Train stations always had detailed maps of major landmarks, so finding those was not an issue. If you were looking for something too small to be covered (say, a restaurant), you'd head to the chōme and then start winnowing down. Police boxes (koban) always had detailed neighborhood maps bolted to a wall nearby listing every single business and family by name, albeit usually in handwritten Japanese only, and you could ask the cops for directions too. The final boss was the non-linear numbering house scheme though. Some friends and I once spent a fruitless hour searching for the HR Giger bar in Tokyo, which we knew was at X-Y-Z, but only managed to find X-Y-(Z+1) and X-Y-(Z-1).
donatj 2y ago
When I was in Japan in 2008, I found if I asked someone how to get somewhere they would often just walk you there, even if it was several blocks.
inopinatus 2y ago
How I navigate in Japan: 1. Get the hotel / company / restaurant's business card with the address in kanji 2. Show that to your taxi driver 3. Taxi driver ignores the address and puts the phone number in their GPS or 1. Take the train/metro to the approximate location 2. Your destination will be noted in the signage by exit number Step (2) is especially fun at Shinjuku, at which point you call your friend who says they'll meet you at the South Gate. Which one though?
kalleboo 2y ago
For shorter distances you use landmarks, like known chains of convenience stores or restaurants. For longer distances, larger roads do have route numbers (county route 69, national route 3, etc).
bane 2y ago
Landmarks. It's similar to how directions are given in other countries with large urban areas and shaky addressing systems. "Turn left at this coffee shop, right at the second church..." When my wife first moved to the U.S. from Korea I couldn't figure out why she was so insistent on using landmarks to navigate, but eventually learned this was the reason. When we went out to rural areas where I grew up, she would become completely lost because it's not generally as landmark dense and the mental system she had accumulated didn't work as well. That was when she finally had to learn the U.S. system.

kbolino 2y ago

As far as I can tell, in a dense Japanese city, directions start relative to a particular train station, then use distances and landmarks to go from there.

redwall_hp 2y ago
That's pretty much how directions work outside of major cities in the US too, except for a lack of train stations, and the more rural you get the more landmarks are replaced with shibboleths. "Go about ten minutes that way until you see the old Smith farm. [The Smiths haven't lived there for three generations.] Then take a left and head five minutes down Mill Road. [It's actually called something else, has never had a mill on it in its entire history, but is called that by the locals nonetheless.]" Eventually you start wondering when you tripped and fell into a Discworld novel.
- jiveturkey 2y ago
  I even hear these kind of place names on fire/police radio.
- kalleboo 2y ago
  As well characterized by Slim Dusty and Ernie Constance in "Just can't miss it, mate" https://archive.org/details/ka-you-just-cant-miss-it-mate https://archive.org/details/ka-you-just-cant-miss-it-mate
- inopinatus 2y ago
  In the UK and Ireland you navigate by pubs, since it is topologically impossible to traverse any connected area without passing at least one pub. The granularity of directions is therefore highest in Dublin (c.f. Joyce, Ulysses, 1922)

thatswrong0 2y ago

When I was in Tokyo, it was basically: 1) Go to / be pointed the nearest train station, then ask random people for help close by if still can't see the number somewhere or parse the names. People all over are super willing to help even with a language barrier. They'll usually point you up a few streets, at landmarks, or general direction. I'd often end up having to ask like 4 people on the way lol 2) If you're meeting with friends, you meet at the train station then go from there. I don't know how anyone got around there before mapping software.

resolutebat 2y ago
I lived in Tokyo before Google Maps, and the answer was: printed maps. Every business card had a map on the back, every ad for an event had a map, every personal invitation had a hand-drawn map. But yeah, if you were going somewhere as a group, you'd meet at a known point (outside train station etc) and then head over together. If you were roughing it on your own and only had the address, things got more interesting. Train stations always had detailed maps of major landmarks, so finding those was not an issue. If you were looking for something too small to be covered (say, a restaurant), you'd head to the chōme and then start winnowing down. Police boxes (koban) always had detailed neighborhood maps bolted to a wall nearby listing every single business and family by name, albeit usually in handwritten Japanese only, and you could ask the cops for directions too. The final boss was the non-linear numbering house scheme though. Some friends and I once spent a fruitless hour searching for the HR Giger bar in Tokyo, which we knew was at X-Y-Z, but only managed to find X-Y-(Z+1) and X-Y-(Z-1).

donatj 2y ago

When I was in Japan in 2008, I found if I asked someone how to get somewhere they would often just walk you there, even if it was several blocks.

inopinatus 2y ago

How I navigate in Japan: 1. Get the hotel / company / restaurant's business card with the address in kanji 2. Show that to your taxi driver 3. Taxi driver ignores the address and puts the phone number in their GPS or 1. Take the train/metro to the approximate location 2. Your destination will be noted in the signage by exit number Step (2) is especially fun at Shinjuku, at which point you call your friend who says they'll meet you at the South Gate. Which one though?

kalleboo 2y ago

For shorter distances you use landmarks, like known chains of convenience stores or restaurants. For longer distances, larger roads do have route numbers (county route 69, national route 3, etc).

bane 2y ago

Landmarks. It's similar to how directions are given in other countries with large urban areas and shaky addressing systems. "Turn left at this coffee shop, right at the second church..." When my wife first moved to the U.S. from Korea I couldn't figure out why she was so insistent on using landmarks to navigate, but eventually learned this was the reason. When we went out to rural areas where I grew up, she would become completely lost because it's not generally as landmark dense and the mental system she had accumulated didn't work as well. That was when she finally had to learn the U.S. system.