Season 10

In our second episode exploring Japan’s pre-modern highway network, we travel along the Nagasaki Kaido. During the Edo period (1603–1868), when the Shogunate banned foreign trade, one exception was permitted: the port in Nagasaki Prefecture. From this port, ideas, technology, culture, and goods spread across Japan via the Nagasaki Kaido. Known as the "Sugar Road" because of one of its most significant trade commodities, this historic highway—and the people who journeyed along it—left a lasting mark on the communities lining its route.