I hope you enjoyed those (at times politically incorrect) journeys back to the Japan of the swinging sixties. Well before my time, I hasten to add (my first trip to Japan wasn't until 1985). I found that guide at a secondhand book shop and thought it might be an interesting read. Most of it turned out to be pretty mundane. Nearly fifty years ago, tourists were going to pretty much the same places they go to today and seeing the same things; it just took them a little more time and effort to get there. Having said that, much of the modern transport infrastructure we see today (including the shinkansen, or "bullet trains", and the ugly elevated expressways that crisscross the nation's capital) was already in place by the mid-1960s, having been built as part of the rush to "modernize" Japan in time for the 1964 Olympics, which were seized on as an opportunity to show to the world just how much "progress" Japan had made since the war, just as the Seoul (1988) and Beijing (2008) Olympics were used by their respective host nations for their own political purposes.
Nihonbashi (below) and expressway (above)
Speaking of those ugly elevated expressways, there has been talk in recent years of burying them in an effort to "improve the urban environment." One section that has come under particular scrutiny is the section that runs over the top (yes, over the top) of Nihonbashi, the old bridge that marks the starting point (or finishing point if you start in Kyoto) of both the Nakasendo and the Tokaido. In 2006 a government panel came up with a proposal to bury this 2-km section and build a park and promenade near the bridge. However, the project has stalled mainly due to the cost, estimated at between 400 billion and 500 billion yen!
Distance walked today: 3km
Total distance walked since Tokaido training began: 109.2km
Days left until departure: 51
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