Nakamura has turned out to be the most common town name in Japan, with 698 towns bearing the name nationwide, according to a new map produced by the Geographical Survey Institute.
Towns named Sakura, or cherry tree, were found in 24 places, including Niimi and Katsuyama in Okayama Prefecture, while cities named Haru, which means spring, exist in Amagi, Fukuoka Prefecture, Shiiba, Miyazaki Prefecture and three other locations.
Towns named Hanami, which means blossom viewing, were found in 11 places, while Takarayama, meaning treasure mountain, was used to name five other towns.
The new map, issued on CD-ROM, lists 570,000 names of towns and public institutions taken from a 1/25,000-scale topographical map of Japan.
Based on the latest edition, the institute plans to create a topographical map on CD-ROM that enables users to call up place names, institute officials said.