Talk:List of towns in Japan

Chō or Machi
What determines whether a town is classed as a chō or a machi? And, as the Japanese characters for both words are identical, how does anyone know which word is appropriate? Skinsmoke (talk) 09:14, 4 January 2011 (UTC)
 * Came here with the same question. The way I understand it is both chō and machi are the same "class", so no need to determine anything there. But when to use one over the other? Maybe a bit like troupe or company as two names for the same concept of a group of actors, with what kinds of connotations? Please, if anybody even somewhat familiar with the topic could provide some insight... nobody's even asking for reliable sources if it remains on the talk page ;) — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2001:A62:1AB8:E601:C5C6:D8AE:853D:1000 (talk) 09:16, 20 September 2022 (UTC)