Help:Manual of Style

This is a rough guide about various stylistic issues that should be followed when adding/editing text in the Mie Guidebook.

General

As most of us teach English, it would be best to at least show a decent amount of respect to the rules of the language and its grammar/spelling.

Tone

In general, a light tone is best. Be clear in your writing and avoid heavy sarcasm which doesn't translate well written media, however this isn't Wikipedia and there's no need to write in a stuffy encyclopedic style.

Citations

Again, this isn't Wikipedia. Citations are not required. It is impossible to cite all the great information you've gleaned through conversations with Japanese people or other ex-pats living in your area. Original research - things you've figured out yourself and things you've heard from others - is encouraged here.

If there are claims which can be checked online, then by all means do so, however there will not be any citation police chasing anybody down.

Specific Text

Japanese municipality names

The English words 'City', 'Town', and 'Village' should basically never be applied as suffixes to municipal names. While in Japanese, it is common for shi (市), chō (町), and mura (村) to be added to the end of municipal names, this is a difference between the two languages. Applying these suffixes after names in English is unnatural and should be avoided.

Rules for natural English should be used in the Mie Guidebook:

• 'City', 'Town', and 'Village' are applied to municipalities for which that is an official part of the place name.

  Example: Carson City, Youngstown, Westlake Village (a city)

• 'City' is added when the name of the city is the same as the prefecture/state/province/etc.

  Example: New York City, Oklahoma City, Shizuoka City

  Note: Many Japanese prefectures must consider this point as it's common for the capital to be the same as the prefecture, however Mie is not one of them.

• When referring to the city/town/village government or as an official body, "City/Town/Village of ~~" is used.

  Example: City of Los Angeles, City of Ise, Town of Mihama

• When absolutely necessary to distinguish the type of municipality, it is preferable in this guidebook to use the Japanese suffix as they are, and not translate them.

  Example: What is now the town of Ōdai was produced by a merger of old Ōdai-cho and Miyagawa-mura