Tokyo has a lot of hills with names.

Streets generally don’t have names, but the hills do: Andozaka, Tomisaka, Dangozaka. A few of them are well-known for their neighborhoods or train stations—Kagurazaka, Nogizaka, Akasaka—and there are plenty that loan their names to busy intersections, but many are only etched onto historical signs dotting the local landscape. Who ever heard to Shichimencho-saka? Just the few people who’ve stopped to read the marker.

Some are named after notable Tokyo citizens; some names come from historical activities or local fauna. But it doesn’t explain why hills have names and status, yet streets do not. Posted by kuri at July 04, 2002 08:19 AM