Foreign tourists in Japan will have a less confusing time trying to identify roads and landmarks thanks to the introduction of standardized English words and eradication of ¡°Romanized¡± Japanese words on public signs, transport ministry officials said.
Revised transport ministry guidelines that took effect Tuesday require that signs showing the name of a street, avenue or boulevard use those words or their abbreviations, instead of relying only on the word ¡°dori,¡± the catch-all Japanese equivalent.
In the case of an established road name, such as Tokyo¡¯s Aoyama-dori, the new guidelines allow use of the traditional Japanese name but requires that ¡°Ave.¡± be added to make it ¡°Aoyama-dori Ave.¡±
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