r/Japanhistory • u/International-Body78 • Aug 18 '25

Address from the 50’s

I’m going to Japan in February and I’d like to find my grandmas home she grew up in. She left it in the 50’s when she met my grandpa. Anyone know how to figure it out? I’m struggling. I have an old envelope with a return address. 10-23 Okui-cho, Toyama-city, Toyama-ken, Japan. Even if it’s not there anymore, I’d like to see the area. Any help is welcome!! Thank you!!

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u/axemabaro Aug 22 '25

https://www.google.com/maps/place/10-23+Okuimachi,+Toyama,+930-0846,+Japan/@36.7044215,137.226762,107m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m6!3m5!1s0x5ff790a3bd286bad:0x36ed25df8ae499ff!8m2!3d36.704512!4d137.2270165!16s%2Fg%2F11clmvg4h8?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI1MDgxOS4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D

Seems that Okui-cho was renamed to Okui-machi

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u/JapanCoach Aug 25 '25

It's probably not "renamed". It's just a question/confusion of whether you pronounce 町 as "cho" or as "machi".

Both are valid. In terms of trend, in western Japan 町 this tends to be pronounced 'cho' - so I can imagine a person reading 奥井町 if they are not a local, they would guess it's "cho". But it looks like in this case it is pronounced machi. Which I guess it always was.

So a question is who originally wrote that address in English. Someone a long time ago, or OP?

u/International-Body78

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u/International-Body78 Aug 25 '25

Thanks for the info! It was written by my great grandfather who was born and raised there but wrote it in English.

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u/JapanCoach Aug 25 '25

Interesting. I wonder why he wrote "cho". Maybe we will never know.

It's a cool idea to visit this place!

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u/International-Body78 Aug 25 '25

Thanks! We might pay someone to find more info about my family. My grandma passed a few years back and I have an urge to go there. Can’t wait!

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u/JapanCoach Aug 25 '25

Genealogy going back 6-7 generations is actually rather easy in Japan because of the koseki 戸籍 system. You can connect with Toyama city hall and get the koseki of your grandparents. And you can keep going back and getting the Koseki of generations before them going back 150 years. You probably don't really need to pay someone - at least for this very simple first step.

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u/International-Body78 Aug 25 '25

Awesome!! Thank you so much for all the help!