While you listed some decent reasons to like the Japanese system, Nyorroin, I still think it's a bit of a hastle. I do know that it gets easier to understand the longer you've been somewhere and the more Japanese you know... but GoNative is right, you can ask a native person where something is and they'll often have no clue (just like asking someone for directions to a minor street in a neighborhood in the US will lead to blank stares). Also, while some towns are small, some can be huge! There are some towns that even have like pan handles... but they don't end there, they just fatten up and keep going somewhere else making it that much more difficult.
"I`ve never felt lost in Japan without a map, but I`ve been miserably lost in the US without one when trying to hunt for the way to get to a specific street."
Nyororin, while I usually agree with you, this is unbelievable. I've hardly ever felt lost in America, and I pretty much always feel lost in Japan. Of course this has to do with roads that go in every direction, streets without any lighting, and other things of that ilk. In southern CA everything was square and easy to navigate (and a bit boring looking as a result). While I've gained a much better sense of direction since I've moved here, I still don't feel anywhere near as confident as when I drove in CA. I feel safer though
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I think it is interesting to note that phone numbers seem to always be in the adresses of places... I think part of the reason for that is to call and ask for mroe detailed directions once the shipping company has located the general direction (but can't find the exact place). I've had stuff shipped to a place in the mountains and the drivers got lost for quite a long time... it's just the way it goes around here. If you're not used to the area and haven't been to a certain location, the odds are you probably won't find it first try without some kind of navigation system.
I'm gonna go as far as to say that a map won't even help you a lot of the time. Just like Nyororin said, the roads always change thus making maps constantly outdated. I wouldn't feel comfortable with a map that wasn't made within a year or two (published and made are two different things, remember). I've seen maps published in 06-07 that were made in 03-05 and they are completely misleading in certain areas.