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Japanese place name


Japanese place names include names for geographic features, present and former administrative divisions, transportation facilities such as railroad stations, and historic sites in Japan. The article Japanese addressing system contains related information on postal addresses.

Most place names are suffixed with its administrative division. These suffixes are often dropped in common usage when no ambiguation is likely. The suffixes are as follows:

Because of the above four suffixes, the prefectures of Japan are commonly referred to as todōfuken (都道府県). And below the level of prefectures, there are:

Some names contain a word indicating a direction:

Other names contain a word indicating the relationship of a settlement to another of the same or a similar name:

Geographic features figure prominently in Japanese place names. Some examples are

Other words that express the natural world or agriculture often appear in place names:

Names and parts of names of former provinces appear in many modern place names:

Medieval Japan had many towns that fell into three categories: castle towns, post towns, harbor towns. In addition, the rise of commerce contributed to some place names. Here are some parts of names connected with medieval Japan:

Many names in Hokkaido originated from words in the Ainu language, as people from mainland Japan conquered and colonized Hokkaido in the Edo period and the Meiji period. Examples of geographic features are -nai and -betsu meaning "river", as in the names Wakkanai and Noboribetsu. The name Esashi comes from the Ainu word esaushi, meaning "cape." Some other names come from places in other parts of Japan because in the past people migrated as a group to Hokkaido, and they give the new settlement a name reminiscent of their old home. Examples include Hiroshima and Date, Hokkaido.


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