# What is my address? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 3, 2011, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-my-address/584251 "2011-06-03T22:16:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Rachellelogram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rachellelogram/32/8689_2.png) [@Rachellelogram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachellelogram)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2011, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-my-address/584251/41 "2011-06-08T16:00:41Z")
The road suffix does matter, sometimes. I grew up on (fake number but the street name is right) 555 Beverly Lane. Just around the corner from us was 555 Beverly Boulevard. Both houses were painted white brick, and were the only two white brick houses in the entire neighborhood. My parents met up with the other homeowners about once a week to exchange mail, because not even the regular postal carrier could get right who lived where half the time. ---
**Author:** ![JoelUpchurch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f05b48/32.png) [@JoelUpchurch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoelUpchurch)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2011, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-my-address/584251/42 "2011-06-08T16:25:57Z")
> [@TokyoPlayer](#): > > Yes, pretty stupid of me, isn’t it? Especially since I used to work down the street at > 神奈川県川崎市中原区新丸子東２丁目２９５ > > Kawasaki-shi, nakahara-ku shinmaruko Higashi 2 “chome” 295. Should have spent those 4 years there thinking a little more, I guess. > > 295 refers to the block. 296 is the next block. We just used the building name after the 295. > [Here ya’re](http://add.nifty.its-mo.com/%E7%A5%9E%E5%A5%88%E5%B7%9D%E7%9C%8C%E5%B7%9D%E5%B4%8E%E5%B8%82%E4%B8%AD%E5%8E%9F%E5%8C%BA/al%2C%E7%A5%9E%E5%A5%88%E5%B7%9D%E7%9C%8C%3A14%2C%E5%B7%9D%E5%B4%8E%E5%B8%82%E4%B8%AD%E5%8E%9F%E5%8C%BA%3A14133%2C%E4%B8%AD%E4%B8%B8%E5%AD%90%3A14133038%2C%EF%BC%91%EF%BC%97%EF%BC%91%3A141330380000000000018&size=m), scroll down for a list of valid addresses for Nakamakuko. If you map the addresses, what you will not see is a “chronological order” of buildings. > > Some places don’t have all of the components of the address. There are neighborhoods in Tokyo which also are not divided into “chome” the same as Nakamaruko. The same Nakahara-ku divides Shinmaruko Higashi into “chome” though. > > Pretty much what you are getting is block numbers, although it’s not completely that 100% of the time. Maybe the streets have been changed, hell if I know. > > Some places also omit the last number which I referred to in my post, and so you have to have the building name or the person’s name. > > Before the Meiji Restoration, they didn’t use addresses at all. If you look at a pre-Meiji era map, there are cities, neighborhoods and then simply names of the property holders. At some point, they divided up into the block numbering system. I don’t think they are block numbers, I think they were originally individual properties. I see places where there are several numbers next to each other. The larger areas were probably originally farms or something. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2011, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-my-address/584251/43 "2011-06-08T17:13:19Z")
> [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > …But more frequently nowadays, the local city/county clerk (pushed by the Post Office) are kicking back, refusing to register certain names if they are confusingly similar to other existing ones. Sometimes the Post Office will just plain state that they will refuse to deliver if they use those names (or actually, refuse to deliver unless the address on the envelope is exactly correct, which would eliminate a lot of mail). OTOH, some cities and towns are small enough you can simply omit “Street,” “Place” or “Road” from the end of the address, and it’ll still get through. Check with your local postmaster or postmistress to be sure. I hate noncontiguous streets that have the same name. When I lived in New Philadelphia, Ohio, my wife and I wandered around for about 20 minutes looking for an address on a particular street. The street numbers just didn’t go that high. (This was before the days of Google Maps and Mapquest). Someone helpfully pointed out that the street continued _on the other side of the river_, half a mile away, with the numbers running uninterruptedly there, even though there was no bridge directly linking the two parts of the same-named street. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2011, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-my-address/584251/44 "2011-06-08T23:11:16Z")
> [@JoelUpchurch](#): > > I don’t think they are block numbers, I think they were originally individual properties. I see places where there are several numbers next to each other. The larger areas were probably originally farms or something. Which is what I said in my following post, where I specified that this happens in rural and former rural areas. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2011, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-my-address/584251/45 "2011-06-26T21:08:44Z")
> [@Sierra\_Indigo](#): > > Where I used to live, the street signs said “Mackay Crescent” > > The street names written on the curbs said “McKay Crescent” > > Somehow mail sent to either spelling got to us. Posties are quite good about that sort of thing. I regularly get mail addressed to [fake number] 7e Avenue, 7e Rue, 7ème Avenue, Septième Avenue, 7th Avenue, Seventh Avenue, 7th Street, etc., etc. The fact that our postal codes only refer to one block (like your nine-digit zip codes) helps. > [@](#): > > Several problems here. Because streets and blocks aren’t laid out in grids, then the blocks aren’t all in perfect order. Also, knowing the block number you are at will not help you immediately find a different “chome.” Once you find the right block, you just have to walk around until you find the address. It sounds similar to addresses in Venice. Your address is simply the name of your _sestiere_ (borough, more or less) and a sequential number that generally goes from one end of the borough to the opposite end, though not always, so: San Polo 1258. There are reference books and so forth to find the place you need (Google Maps has them too). In addition, all the streets and canals are named, so conceivably they could use street addresses, but they don’t. Florence is good enough to have street number addresses, but with two different systems (“red” and “black” numbers) that I don’t remember how they work. ---
**Author:** ![Cheshire\_Human](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Cheshire\_Human](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheshire_Human)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2011, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-my-address/584251/46 "2011-06-26T22:48:47Z")
> [@TokyoPlayer](#): > > …you would expect in a **chronological** order. [bold added] I believe you mean “Numerical” order. “Chronological” refers to time. They’re not numbered in the order they were built, were they? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-my-address/584251.md?page=2)