American Occupied Route numbers in Tokyo

[austrini]

I got a neat map off ebay of Tokyo in 1952. I've been there a few times, and it's interesting to see the local route number system and how its signed - and it made me curious about the history. Before WW2, there werent numbered routes in Japan, and after the war ended there werent any easy ways for the occupation authorities to get around. So the Americans devised a numbered route system. The Americans came up with what seemed like a needlessly complex route number system, with suffixed routes and street names that likely had little meaning to the Japanese (St. Luke's Avenue for example). The routes were signed photo examples http://www.kictec.co.jp/varieties-road-sign/us-military-sign/ or http://blog-imgs-35.fc2.com/m/o/n/monpa2008/daigakunomon02.jpg. After the treaty ending occupation in 1952, the Japanese swiftly renumbered their routes and got new signage that had no English lettering on the shields. The street names went away, too, and even today most Japanese streets do not have names. I'm wondering if they did something similar in Germany, or if they just left the Nazi route numbers intact from before the war? (or if Americans have done this anywhere else, like Korea...)

Big map scanned here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/fatguyinalittlecoat/7853878698/sizes/z/in/photostream/

[J N Winkler]

Thanks for this!

I'm wondering if they did something similar in Germany, or if they just left the Nazi route numbers intact from before the war?

In Germany the existing route numbers were left untouched.  The German route numbering plan was developed in 1932, so it actually pre-dated the Nazis, though not by much, and the numbers were signed.  I don't know if special arrangements were made in respect of Autobahn signage since the Autobahnen were not numbered at the time (and would not be until the 1970's).

[vdeane]

How do they navigate if the streets have no names?  Turn right at the cow in the road?

[austrini]

The cities are divided into districts, and each block has a number, and each building within said block has a number. So an address might read something like District 12, Block 9, Building 20 ... or just "Tokyo 12-9-20" ... major roads have names but they rarely have anything to do with the addresses.

[Alps]

Judging from the street names and route numbers, this had to have been devised by New Yorkers.

[Brandon]

Judging from the street names and route numbers, this had to have been devised by New Yorkers.

The numbered streets and lettered avenues could just as easily be Chicago.

[Alps]

Judging from the street names and route numbers, this had to have been devised by New Yorkers.

The numbered streets and lettered avenues could just as easily be Chicago.

Ever had a Illinois SR 1X? New York has.

[NE2]

Virginia had suffixes from the end of the alphabet too. Until 1923


Hawaii had a similarly federally-numbered system at first.

[Takumi]

^ There was also US 60Z through Williamsburg that lasted until the early 1970s.

[Brandon]

Judging from the street names and route numbers, this had to have been devised by New Yorkers.

The numbered streets and lettered avenues could just as easily be Chicago.

Ever had a Illinois SR 1X? New York has.

We've had a 1A, 4A, 42A, 59A, 89A, 89B, 89C, among others.  Then you have Oklahoma which uses the same type of suffix system as New York.

[Scott5114]

Judging from the street names and route numbers, this had to have been devised by New Yorkers.

The numbered streets and lettered avenues could just as easily be Chicago.

Ever had a Illinois SR 1X? New York has.

We've had a 1A, 4A, 42A, 59A, 89A, 89B, 89C, among others.  Then you have Oklahoma which uses the same type of suffix system as New York.

The highest suffix we use is F, though we do have a random H, a P, and an S (H and S both branches of 77, P of 412).

[Road Hog]

Little-known fact: Business routes in Texas have letter suffixes sequenced alphabetically (often with gaps due to decommissionings). If you look at a business route shield you'll see a tiny letter. Here's an example:

[mukade]

The cities are divided into districts, and each block has a number, and each building within said block has a number. So an address might read something like District 12, Block 9, Building 20 ... or just "Tokyo 12-9-20" ... major roads have names but they rarely have anything to do with the addresses.

That is the way addresses are done in some large cities. The problem in Japan is that the building number/house number is that it is usually chronological. In other words, see this example:
- building 20 was built at the very east end was built in December, 1965
- building 21 was built at the west end in January, 1966
- building 22 was built in the center in March, 1966

Therefore, it becomes essentially random. So maps usually show where the building/house number is.

In Kobe, the pattern is similar, but you have only two numbers. For example, 26-2 chome, Shinohara, Honmachi, Nada-ku. Of course, an address is always backwards from the US so it would be: city (Kobe), ward (Nada-ku), district (Shinohara), sub-district (Hon-machi), block (2 chome), building number (26) in that example. In smaller cities, addresses are more like number-neighborhood. For example, I lived at "3099 Harara-cho". Again, numbers are not sequential in either example; they are assigned in the order the buldings were built.

In recent years, many major streets in cities have gotten names. For example, Kobe has "Flower Road".

Another interesting tidbit is that Japanese national routes are never multiplexed. They also have a different system than the US in this respect: contrast with US 1 or US 101 along the coasts, in Japan route 1 goes from Tokyo to Osaka, Route 2 goes from Oaska to Fukuoka, Route 4 goes from Tokyo to Aomori. Those three routes could logically be a single route, but everything in Japan seems to be more big city destination-centric.

[agentsteel53]

in Japan route 1 goes from Tokyo to Osaka, Route 2 goes from Oaska to Fukuoka, Route 4 goes from Tokyo to Aomori. Those three routes could logically be a single route, but everything in Japan seems to be more big city destination-centric.

isn't there a US state which formerly had a routing system like this?

New Mexico effectively has a system like this today with the state routes, as they do not allow any multiplexes.  so each route number corresponds to a segment.

this was implemented slowly between 1963 and 1988 or so, if I recall correctly.

however, so many routes in New Mexico of trans-state importance are US or interstate, that the effect is very much diminished.

[NE2]

Little-known fact: Business routes in Texas have letter suffixes sequenced alphabetically (often with gaps due to decommissionings).

Gaps are usually due to leaving gaps when the letters were assigned in 1990-91.

[NE2]

in Japan route 1 goes from Tokyo to Osaka, Route 2 goes from Oaska to Fukuoka, Route 4 goes from Tokyo to Aomori. Those three routes could logically be a single route, but everything in Japan seems to be more big city destination-centric.

isn't there a US state which formerly had a routing system like this?

Reminds me of Pennsylvania's legislative routes. ftp://ftp.dot.state.pa.us/public/pdf/BPR_pdf_files/Maps/Statewide/Historic_OTMs/1911.pdf

[Alps]

in Japan route 1 goes from Tokyo to Osaka, Route 2 goes from Oaska to Fukuoka, Route 4 goes from Tokyo to Aomori. Those three routes could logically be a single route, but everything in Japan seems to be more big city destination-centric.

isn't there a US state which formerly had a routing system like this?

New Mexico effectively has a system like this today with the state routes, as they do not allow any multiplexes.  so each route number corresponds to a segment.

this was implemented slowly between 1963 and 1988 or so, if I recall correctly.

however, so many routes in New Mexico of trans-state importance are US or interstate, that the effect is very much diminished.

Sullivan County does this with county route numbering. NM is the only other place I really noticed this, following several numbers laid over old US 66.

[NE2]

Bump.

How do they navigate if the streets have no names?  Turn right at the cow in the road?

Apparently major intersections have unique names.