address system in Japan

My friend had an exhibition for his new company today.  It was at a place called Gallery Common in Omotesando, an upscale district in Tokyo.  It was easy to find the basic vicinity, but once I did, I was reminded at how much of a pain the address system here is.

Addresses have three numbers, e.g. 1-2-31 or 7-23-4.  The numbers are preceded by the area in which the building or house is located, e.g. Higashi Shinjuku.  So a hypothetical address (I'm making this up) could be something like Higashi Shinjuku 1-20-12.

The first number, 1, would mean 1-chome.  The chome indicates the district.

The 20 would mean that it's the 20th block in  the district.  

The 12 would mean that it's the 12th house/building on the block.

Before Google maps and smart phones, I could spend literally an hour looking for a place in Tokyo.  And Google maps doesn't solve all the problems because most Tokyo streets don't have names, which is a real real pain sometimes.  (The story I've heard is that they designed Tokyo to be seemingly haphazardly laid out, rather than according to the parallel/perpendicular street system utilized in many countries, and even in other prefectures in Japan, like Hokkaido.  The reason for the haphazardness was to confuse the enemy in the event of an invasion by a foreign country.)  Generally businesses, I find, don't have their addresses posted outside their doors.  I guess they figure their big signs ought to do the trick.  One who is looking for an official address would have a better chance at seeing it at the front of a private residence, esp. near a mailbox.

So this is what it looked like.  Clothes shops, a crepe shop, a Starbucks, on within striking distance of Gallery Common.  But like two of the buildings on the block had addresses displayed out front, so I was walking around and around.

poles and building corners will have the district and block displayed, in some areas

this crepe place had no address on display

Finally, I found a building with an address posted outside!

This isn't exactly an interesting topic, but it's one that people usually have to deal with when they live in Japan.  The lack of easily accessible addresses and street names.  The bright side is that it is kind of a mysterious world to live in. . .Not knowing where things are or what's in those buildings.