Travel to Japan 10

Japan Map with English Tags

Locating a place in Japan by Address or by Zip Code
Friday, August 1, 2008

I found the website www.diddlefinger.com to be very useful in locating an address on map in Japan. The website uses Google Maps API to display the underlying map, however, diddlefinger generate its own English name tags that are then superimposed on to the main map. Diddlefinger can be used to find a place if you know the postal address or zip code (it has other options but I find the listed two more useful). Let me explanin how I found a place.

I was looking for the location of Grand Cube Osaka (aka Osaka International Cenvention Center) in Osaka City, Japan. Of course, a famous landmark like this is easy to locate but I am going to use it as an example any way. The address for Grand Cube Osaka is:

Grand Cube Osaka 5-3-51, Nakanoshima Kita-ku, Osaka 530-0005 JAPAN

Explanation for the address is given below:

Grand Cube | Name of the place
5-3-51 | Door number {chome-ban-number}
Nakanoshima | Area {by itself or may end with -machi or -chu}
Kita-ku | Ward {ends with -ku or -machi}
Osaka | City {by itself or may end with -shi or -gun}
530-0005 | Postal Zip Code
[Osaka | Prefecture {ends with -ken; NOT needed}]

So I first started to find this place using the Zip Code. So I brought up the website and clicked on the Zip lookup feature and typed-in the Zip code 530 followed by 0005 and clicked the Go button. The website found the address and gave the following zoomed up image:

Now let us look-up the same place if had the address in English but without the help of the Zip code. First we start with Diddlefinger map and start with"English Address Search" feature. The first step is to start with the city name (Step 1.). In our case we start with Osa..., as you type these letters the program gives all the possible names and you just pick the right one.

Then continue on to Step 2, by typing the Ward Name Kita-ku and on to Step 3, Area Name Nakanoshima and finally the Door number.

Once it is done. You simply click the Map This button and you will get the zoomed up map of the location as shown below.