Heibonsha to Release 'Furigana Map of Japan' with Phonetic Readings for All Place Names on May 22

Heibonsha Co., Ltd. (Head Office: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo / Representative Director: Jumpei Shimonaka) will release 'Difficult Place Names Can Be Read Fluently! Furigana Map of Japan', the first Japanese atlas with furigana attached to all place names, on Friday, May 22.

Can we read 'Dokusho', 'Ueda', 'Kobe', and 'Matsumae' straight? 'Henbori' (Tokyo), 'Tsutsu' (Nagasaki Prefecture), 'Ondori' (Tokushima Prefecture), 'Boujidao' (Hiroshima Prefecture)... and other difficult-to-read place names that are desperately impenetrable. There is also the problem of whether a town is read as 'cho' or 'machi'. Japanese place names are troublesome anyway. In the first place, there is no map where you can properly read the place names!! Good news for you who have such frustrations.

'Difficult Place Names Can Be Read Fluently! Furigana Map of Japan' (Edited by Heibonsha Map Publishing, Column supervised by Keisuke Imao) will be released at bookstores and online bookstores nationwide on Friday, May 22, 2026.

A map of Japan has appeared with furigana attached to all municipalities, as well as the listed Oaza (larger sections of villages), natural geographical names, and famous historical places. You can read the place names on the prefectural maps divided by spread more and more, feel familiar with unknown lands, and have plenty of immersion. You can trace place names from the column or read the furigana aloud. You can fully enjoy a new way to enjoy maps.

Keisuke Imao, a map researcher and author of many books on place names, says in the 'Foreword':

'In previous maps, it was a principle to add ruby (furigana) only to difficult-to-read place names. Therefore, (omitted) we cannot read place names like "Ueda" with certainty. In a long history so far, it would be nice to have a map book with full ruby, but as far as I know, it has not been realized. It is probably a space issue. Ruby becomes a big obstacle to putting as many place names as possible in a limited map space.'

We would like you to have a copy of this epoch-making map book, which will be released with full satisfaction, per family.

Map of Aomori Prefecture from 'Difficult Place Names Can Be Read Fluently! Furigana Map of Japan'
Map of Gunma Prefecture from 'Difficult Place Names Can Be Read Fluently! Furigana Map of Japan'
Map of Aichi Prefecture from 'Difficult Place Names Can Be Read Fluently! Furigana Map of Japan'
Map of Fukuoka Prefecture from 'Difficult Place Names Can Be Read Fluently! Furigana Map of Japan'
Map of Japan in the Edo period from 'Difficult Place Names Can Be Read Fluently! Furigana Map of Japan', etc.

[Bibliographic Information]
Title: Difficult Place Names Can Be Read Fluently! Furigana Map of Japan
Foreword writer/Column supervisor: Keisuke Imao
Editor: Heibonsha Map Publishing
Publisher: Heibonsha
Release date: Friday, May 22, 2026
Price: 2,750 yen (10% tax included)
ISBN: 978-4-582-41822-4
https://www.heibonsha.co.jp/book/b674323.html