Good points! [ e ]

Another thing I noticed is that sometimes depending on the zoom level, Google isn't precise at all. At one zoom level, it shows your target on a street corner, and at another zoom level the same target is now on the opposite corner. Quite unreliable.

Also as it can be seen on the maps in your entry, Google doesn't include all banchi at the highest zoom level. So when using a printed map from Google to actually get somewhere, and say you're at banchi 4 according to a nearby street post, then you can't even find out where you are on the map.

I do like Google's easy to understand conbini and bank logo icons better than Yahoo's nearly useless marks though.

posted by PatrickJuly 18, 2006 at 1:07

[ e ]

I'm sure google will eventually get better. It's just frustrating now, many sites have been switching to google, probably like I mentioned because they think google is cool and because google has an API. They unfortunately didn't evaluate if google as a map service (for Japan) is actually any good yet.

Here's a pretty cool site that lets users rate restaurants. It uses google for imbedded maps but clicking on the "give me a full map link" brings up the maps on mapion.com. Unfortunately the go to a page on mapion without all the useful links I mentioned above.

posted by greggmanJuly 18, 2006 at 3:58

Yahoo(Japan) = Softbank? [ e ]

Seems like Google needs to increase it's presence in Japan (or at least throw more resources at it's Japan databases).  I'm guessing Yahoo!'s data is more detailed since it seems that yahoo.jp is somewhat of a separate entity from the main Yahoo! sites.

I sure hope Google updates its data though; Yahoo's maps are a bit too cluttered with info. and hard on the eyes.

posted by globulousJuly 18, 2006 at 7:39

NYC Needs Yahoo.jp maps! [ e ]

I go to Japan occasionally and use yahoo maps in Tokyo.  I wish we in Manhattan had the yahoo.jp functionality that shows the subway stations and walking distances/travel times.  There are google maps mashups on subway lines in NYC, but they're not usable yet.

posted by kyleJuly 22, 2006 at 7:34

odd coincidence [ e ]

I was just noticing this the other day. I love google's stuff, but the maps are really horrendous for actually trying to get anything to pop up. Actually, I was having trouble just putting in addresses and getting the right spot to pop up, let alone directions to it.

posted by bwanaJuly 25, 2006 at 0:30

Japan is so disordered,unorganized , dirty , squalid and polluted country [ e ]

If you go to Japan, you will be shocked.

There are so many short buildings irregularly built and really chaotic.

People never abide the traffic rule, and people spit on the floor just as if there is nothing wrong with it.

People throw cigarettes or trash in the street.

Some young teenage Japanese girls or guys take sh!t on the floor in the streets though many people are watching.

Also, Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, Fukuoka, Hiroshima, Yokohama, etc....

these cities are so polluted.

posted by GattrySeptember 26, 2006 at 5:06

who cares if the map sucks [ e ]

Whatever the reason is, Japan is a sucky country.

No doubt about it.

Japan is so unpleasant disgusting country.

Japan is so unique in one thing.

Japan regularly export thousands of Japanese prostitutes all over the world. The government does that. Many of them work in the US, Cananda, Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, France, UK, China etc...

posted by whocaresSeptember 26, 2006 at 5:14

[ e ]

Apparently Google fixed their Japanese maps a little. The maps at least show the stations on the map now. They don't tell you which stations are closest by minute like Yahoo yet.

posted by greggmanOctober 5, 2006 at 19:28

Japan dirty ?? what ??? [ e ]

What are these comments about Japan being dirty, people spitting, and shiting on the street ? you are obviously confused with a 3rd world country you retard nerds !
Have you actually traveled in your life? or are you doing so in second life?
Japan is in fact the total opposite of those claims... it's so clean that it's like sterlized.

posted by GHuiMarch 16, 2008 at 22:16

allow me to disagree. [ e ]

Japan is one of the most modern nations in the world, if not THE most modern. The people are polite, corteous, sanitary, and above all else, civilzed. I'm sure due to Japan's high smoking population you will run into the standard cigarette butts, etc, in the middle of the street, but the idea of Japanese citizens defecating in the middle of the street? Did I mention how sanitary they are? It's considered disgusting if you blow your nose in public, let alone take a dump on the sidewalk. What you're saying is preposterous, and I'd be willing to bet money that you've never even been to Japan, but harbor some sort of hatred towards the country.

Plus, the Japanese have those ultra-modern toilets in practically every building. Electronic toilet > crapping in the street.

posted by keloidMarch 16, 2008 at 23:13

[ e ]

been here four years, and while Tokyo can be dirty, disgusting and chaotic, i've never seen anyone shit on the street before.

yeah, its certainly not heaven, walk around Ginza, Shinjuku or Harajuku and you'll think, "Wow, this is amazing! Subarashi!"

But for all the tourists writing in defense of Tokyo, how long did you stay?

And theres not high tech toilets in every building, at least 2/3 have western styled toilets (some with the hi tech bidet and seat warmer), but the rest you still have to squat over a toilet.

I'm not saying it's great, im not saying its bad, its just not a western place, and you have to understand that.

posted by SkriptMarch 18, 2008 at 18:36

It IS dirty. I live here. [ e ]

I too have met many foreigners who feel Japan is like heaven, and so to think visitors would make such a statement like "Japan is dirty", etc, is quite an insult to them. Japan is cleaner perhaps than most of Asia, but lets be honest. People do puke a lot on sidewalks and streets (getting drunk in Japan is a favorite past time and also necessary for people to actually talk honestly to each other). Telephone and electric wires are hanging everywhere around the city and give an unsightly appearance. They are not buried as they are in the west. Yes, people even urinate on the street. I've seen it many times. This is due mainly to few public restrooms, which...wouldn't you agree a "modern city" should have? Buildings (not the newest ones in Shibuya) are often quite ugly and many are falling apart.

And does calling them "standard cigarette butts" as written above give Japan an excuse for littering cigarettes everywhere in the city? Sounds like "keloid" is doing what many gaijins in defense of Japan do. They "cherry pick" in how they see Japan. They ignore a suicide culture here, the love hotels (in every town) that reflect the state of both morality and love relationships, and a lot of other uncivilized things in Japan because...they felt Japan was a country that had it all together compared to their own country. Now they spend their time trying to defend Japan for everything.

Japan has some modern things, but more ancient things. And if you stay here long enough (and keep your eyes open) you'll also notice that the way things are done here, the way decisions are made, the way to work through the system, is all very ancient. And ancient...is not modern.

posted by TBoyMarch 23, 2008 at 4:14