Dave Eddy:

There are two "Nerimas" in Tokyo.

Nerima ward ("Nerima-cho") is huge.

Okay, this I agree with. Although my map calls it Nerima-ku (ku meaning
'ward').

It is far and away the
largest ward in area in all of the metro area as far as I can
tell.

I don't think it's the largest, but it is one of the largest.

At the next level down in Tokyo's hierarchical geographical
subdivision, which I will call a "suburb" for the lack of a
better word, there also exists a "Nerima".  In the south-east
corner of Nerima ward, it contains "Nerima" rail station
and is probably the "Nerima" that RT refers to.

The Nerima rail station is just that... a rail station for Nerima. There
are several rail/subway lines going through Nerima. My map shows the
Nerima rail station and a 'Nerima Police Station' close by. This might be
the 'downtown area' of Nerima hence why it's rail stop is called Nerima.
The area around it is in pink which is business areas/larger buildings on
my map.

The streets shown in Ranma are more suburban and the southeast corner is
pretty densely packed.

The Ranma 1/2 faq page mentions the Oizumi part of Nerima as being the
most likely place for Ranma to take place in. It's in the northwest
corner.

Also, Ryoga and Akane's 'date' from the waterproof soap story was
identified as Shakuji lake (which is also in the west side of Nerima).
There are even a number of small rivers/canals running through this part
of Nerima (which are occasionally seen in Ranma). A larger river runs
through east Nerima, but it looks bigger than the ones seen in Ranma 1/2

To help me visualize how the various Ranma landmarks are laid out for my
fanfics, I actually scanned in the NW corner and placed the various Ranma
landmarks on it. Give it a look, but realize the positions are
speculations on my part (although based on observations of the
anime/manga):

http://home.earthlink.net/~jimlazar/anime/index/1999.jpg

And on top of that, I changed it to reflect Nerima in 2057 according to
my Childhood of a Modern Dynasty series:

http://home.earthlink.net/~jimlazar/anime/index/2057.jpg

-=-
Jim Lazar

E-Mail - mailto:jimlazar@earthlink.net
Home - http://home.earthlink.net/~jimlazar
FanFiction - http://home.earthlink.net/~jimlazar/anime
-=-
     Kasumi found her father cradling her mother in his arms. He
had run out of tears to shed long ago, but the expression on his face
told the story. Kasumi calmly slid the door closed and knelt down
facing her father and mother, tears started flowing from her eyes.

     After several minutes of silence, Soun asked with a scratchy
voice, "Kasumi dear. Will you please say goodbye to your mother and
then go get Mr. Saotome?" He didn't look up at his daughter once.

     "Of course, Father," Kasumi said. She stood up, took one of her
mother's hands in hers, and said a soft, "Goodbye, Mother. I'll keep
my promise."

Ranma-ototo: Please Save My Family - Part 2
3rd place, Aug 1998 Mini-Series, Best of Ranma Fanfiction Awards