No.72 Regarding Address Organization

We often use the word "address" casually, but it has various meanings in a strict sense.
The "land number" that indicates the location of the land, the "address" where people reside, and the "location" where a corporation's head office is registered, etc. Each of these is defined by laws such as the Real Estate Registration Act, the Basic Resident Registration Act, and the Commercial Registration Act, and the basis for these is the land number.
This "land number" refers to the number assigned by the registry office for each parcel of land today, but it originally derives from the land survey records created during the Taiko land survey, and was numbered during the issuance of land certificates in the Meiji era, which established modern land ownership.
Initially, they were arranged in an orderly manner according to certain rules, but due to circumstances such as subdivision and consolidation related to inheritance sales, fragmentation caused by the construction of roads and railways, and new numbering due to changes in municipal boundaries, the regularity has gradually been lost. Now, the situation has become quite confusing, with numbers not arranged in order, gaps in the numbering, and many residences built with the same number.
In this context, requests for improvements have been received from citizens and Business Operators, and the city has been sequentially organizing parts of the Hirao area in the Tama New Town district and the existing urban area using a method called "town boundary and town name number organization."
In 1987, new town names were assigned to the Koyodai District, in 1990 to part of the Hirao District, in 1994 to the Nagamine District, and in 1998 to the Wakabadai District, with the addresses being renumbered accordingly.
The land number organization based on these towns has achieved certain results in making addresses easier to understand, and there was a policy to sequentially organize all areas in the city, starting with the Hirao district for the existing urban area.

However, this method called "town boundary and name lot organization" is a technique for correcting the notation in land registration records. While it is easier to organize in cases involving the birth of new districts like new towns or changes in lots as seen in the Land Readjustment Project, applying it uniformly to existing urban areas presents technical difficulties, and its subsequent implementation has been suspended.
To break this situation, in April 2016, we assigned staff responsible for address display to the City Planning Division and have started research and investigation on organizing addresses throughout the city.
Until now, the city has been constrained by the "town boundary and town name numbering organization," but we are considering the introduction of "residential address" based on the law regarding residential addresses, which has not yet been implemented in the city. We are also taking into account the implementation status in neighboring cities and are exploring methods that suit the characteristics of each area.
In August of this year, we established the "Inagi City Address Organization Citizen Council," composed of representatives from Neighborhood Associations in various districts of the city, public offices such as the police and fire departments, Commerce and Industry Association business operators, postal and delivery service providers, and recruited citizens, and we are requesting the formulation of basic policies regarding the review.
Organizing addresses has a significant impact not only on citizens' lives but also on community activities and business activities. Therefore, we will continue to carefully consider this matter by incorporating the opinions of citizens and relevant organizations.
Please note that the actual address organization will require significant costs and time, so we will proceed sequentially as soon as the understanding and preparations of the local residents are in place.
In addition, for individual implementations, we will establish a "Address Organization Council" and a "District Citizen Study Group" for each relevant area, and we will discuss individually whether to proceed with the implementation.