The Nagasaki Kaido - Japan's Sugar Road

The best way to discover little-known sights, and make even familiar places feel brand new, is to go exploring by bicycle.

This time, we'll be riding the old Nagasaki Kaido Highway.

In the samurai era when Japan was mostly closed to the world, this was the only route for overseas culture and technology to enter the country.

Wow, look at this.

That's quite a contraption.

What a machine!

I watched my father put his heart into this job.
That's what inspired me to follow him.

More than just a vital trade route for the whole nation, the Kaido had a lasting effect on the communities along it.

People here are proud of a legacy of invention and openness to change.

People of my generation want to make
something different than our predecessors.

A unique culture developed along the old road, much of which still survives to this day.

Come with us now on a 300-kilometer ride along one of Japan's most historic old highways.

Kokura is the gateway to Kyushu for travelers from the main island of Honshu.

This was the eastern end of the Nagasaki Kaido.

And it's where we will start our trip.

Hi everyone, I'm James.

It's a beautiful morning, and it's great to be back in Kyushu.

James Hobbs is from England.

A professor at a medical university, James's great passion is cycle racing.

He's especially keen on hill climbing.

It's his first time to explore one of the Kaido, Japan's ancient highways.

Really looking forward to the trip.

And I want to see how much of the history and the culture of the Nagasaki-kaido is still alive, and what it means to the people who live here.

So it's going to be an adventure.

Okay, right, the bike's ready, I'm ready.

Are you ready? Let's go to Nagasaki.

The Nagasaki Kaido runs for about 228 kilometers through Fukuoka, Saga and Nagasaki prefectures.

Our ride will actually take us for 300 kilometers.

As well as some of the original post stations, we'll make detours to explore other communities where the legacy of the old highway survives.

The once great highway now begins as this narrow lane.

Yeah, it sort of winds round here.

Not there, it's got to be this way.

It was a kindergarten.

I thought it was a temple. Kindergarten.

Yeah, you can already sense a bit of history here, can't you?

You can see the way these little narrow roads, back from the days when there were no cars.

Coming up soon will be the first of the old highway's post station towns.

Okay, what have we got here?

A little raccoon dog welcoming me.

Okay, right, so this is going to be the first post station.

Kurosaki-shuku, it's the first post station of, I think, the 25 on the route.

15 kilometers from the start, James is in the old post station of Kurosaki-shuku.

The Kaido here now runs through a shopping arcade.

Good morning!

- What are you doing?
- Shelling edamame beans.

- I heard that this was part of the old Nagasaki Kaido.
- That's right.

Can you tell me about the history of the Kaido?

When Japan cut itself off from the world,
Nagasaki was the only port open to foreign trade.

Travelers, goods and ideas from overseas
flowed along this road.

In that period, overseas trade was restricted to Nagasaki, the western end of the Kaido.

Dutch and Chinese merchants brought foreign cultures with them.

Let me show you something.

Hearing James is a traveler on the Kaido, our friendly local has had an idea.

Everyone prays here.

Which deity is it for?

Sarutahiko. Since ancient times,
travelers prayed to him for safety on the road.

Perfect for me then, before a long trip.

Yes, that's why I brought you.

- Will you show me how to pray?
- Bow twice, clap twice, bow again.

James is about to get his first taste of how those old imported cultures live on along the Kaido.

And yeah, I think I've found it.

Here's the sign.

I've seen the sign up there.

Irie-seika.

Irie confectionary.

This is the place.

They're obviously busy making loads of sweets.

Can I get through here?

Good morning.

Welcome!

I hear you make traditional sweets.

Irie Masahiko is the fourth generation of a family of confectioners.

- So this is konpeito.
- This is it.

- Can I try one?
- Of course.

What a unique shape.

Sugar candy was introduced by Portuguese traders in the mid-16th century.

Sugar was such an important product that the Nagasaki Kaido was also called the Sugar Road.

Its new availability inspired confectioners in towns along the highway.

Let's go, here we go.

I feel like a child again.

Sweet time.

It's a mild sweetness that fills the mouth.
So this style originally came from overseas?

The name is from the Portuguese "confeito."

A special treat for James - he's invited in to see how konpeito is made.

The moment you come in, you feel the heat.

And even with a mask on, you can smell, it's like the air is thick with a sweet, sugary scent.

What an amazing scent.

It must be over 30 degrees in here.

40. In summer it gets to 50.

What are these machines doing?

Well, it's a process that takes 14 days.

Each sweet starts as a single grain of sugar.

Grains of granulated sugar are just 0.8 millimeters across.

For eight hours a day, the grains are sprayed with sugar syrup as they are heated in these large tubs.

The rotation of the tubs causes the grains to stick to each other, creating spheres with a unique bumpy surface.

After 14 days of this treatment, the finished konpeito have reached 1.5 centimeters in size.

Local confectioners saw these imported sweets
and decided they could do better.

I imagine it was a matter of pride - to show Japan
could do as well as the West.

They created new techniques to improve the taste.

Konpeito uses the same simple ingredient,
sugar, but has a very different shape.

I think it shows the playful spirit of its creators.

A craftsman's pride in the inventiveness of his ancestors.

The road is now carrying James south towards the border with Saga.

- Coming through! Watch out!
- Hello!

Thank you!

Ah, we've got like a shrine gate here.

There we go, Nagasaki-kaido.

This way, guys, let's go.

This section leads to one of the most difficult spots on the highway, the Hiyamizu Pass.

Oh, what have we got here? End of road.

End of road.

That's not too bad.

It's not surfaced but it's fairly... Maybe not.

I'll just go a bit further, then we're going to get surfaced road.

No chance.

No chance.

I was hoping it would just be a little bit of this and then we'd get a surfaced road again but uh-uh.

I want to go and have a little look.

The stones causing James so much trouble are the originals, laid down in 1612.

Of the roads I've been on today, this is probably where I'm getting the biggest sense of what the actual Nagasaki-kaido must have been like.

It's said that an elephant imported from Vietnam once trudged over this pass.

James is starting to realize that cycling on this stretch is never going to be an option.

Come on, give me a proper road.

Where's the road? I want to ride my bike.

I hate to say it but I give up.

Let's go back. I've got to find another way through these mountains.

It will soon get dark, but fortunately there's another road that avoids the pass.

We're now back on the Nagasaki Kaido, heading for Tosu City in Saga.

Left to Oita, straight ahead to Saga and Nagasaki.

Right, straight ahead for me, but not on the expressway, on the Nagasaki-kaido please.

Today it's Kyushu's expressways that intersect here, but Tosu was always an important transportation hub on the old Kaido.

Some unique occupations remain here from Tosu's days as a post station.

There we go. Omura Yakuhin.

Omura Pharmaceuticals.

I've found the place.

- Hello! Omura san?
- That's me.

- Pleased to meet you. I'm James.
- Omura of Omura Yakuhin.

I hear your job is a Nagasaki Kaido tradition.

Yes, we still do it the old way.

I leave a box of medicines in each household.

Then I make regular calls, charge only for
any drugs they have used, and restock the box.

Omura Toshiro runs a business supplying these old-style medicine boxes for people to keep in their homes.

Can I see the contents?

Medicine for colds, pain, upset stomachs.
Everything a family might need.

This town was a post station on the Nagasaki Kaido,
a place to stop overnight.

One of the things the locals learned from
travelers was this method for selling medicine.

That was the beginning of our business here.

Over 250 years ago, travelers on the Kaido from Toyama, at the other end of Japan, introduced this method of selling medicines.

In the days when medicine was out of most people's reach, this was a godsend.

Omura has around 1,000 customers throughout Kyushu.

Every three months he visits to restock their boxes.

Hello! It's Omura Yakuhin.

- Hot just now, isn't it?
- Very hot. But the nights get cool.

- Big temperature swings are tough.
- Yes, you get sick easily.

- I've been walking for my health.
- Walking! Really?

- How far did you go this morning?
- Oh just a little way.

- You've used a lot of cold medicine.
- I do get through it.

You've been taking these for a long time.

These expire soon, so I'll replace them.

- When did you start using this service?
- It's been over 40 years now.

You've known Omura san a long time?

Since he took over from his father 15 years ago.
He's very easy to talk to.

- What do you talk about?
- We chat about families, or just gossip.

You can't get this service at a pharmacy.

I can talk to him, and I trust his medicines.

It's reassuring to always have medicine, just in case.

Today's total comes to 330 yen.

Thank you very much.

Omura first worked at a steel mill.

But when he was 21, illness forced his father to retire and he had to take over the family firm.

You must have felt a bit nervous at first.

Yes. I worried whether I could get on well
with so many different kinds of people.

I made plenty of mistakes. I was even told
to take my medicine box and never come back.

But I won them all round in the end.

Some of those awkward customers now
invite me in for lunch.

Today, drug stores are everywhere, and it's easy to order medicine over the Internet, but Omura is confident his profession still has a future.

The world keeps changing but people continue
to want that human, personal connection.

So there'll always be a role for me.

Morning of day two sees James riding west through the open plains of Kanzaki.

Farmers here double crop.

They've just harvested the rice and are about to start planting wheat.

Okay, there's a big factory over there.

"Men". That means noodles. Okay.

That's quite a big noodle factory.

Another noodle factory here.

"Somen." I think those are the thin noodles that you eat cold.

Somen noodles, made from wheat, are a Kanzaki specialty.

Ah right, there's another little noodle factory here.

Sorry to interrupt you at work.
Can I take a quick look?

Sure, come on in.

This noodle factory has been in business for 100 years.

Fujimitsu Masaji is its proud owner.

Wow, look at this.

That's quite a contraption.

What a machine!

My first impression is it reminds of an old printing press.

It looks like tomorrow's newspaper is going to come out of the other end.

It's a very old machine.

When was it made?

- Oh, about 100 years ago.
- That's amazing!

Originally a rare handmade delicacy, somen was introduced 400 years ago by a monk traveling the Nagasaki Kaido.

This machine, developed in 1883 by a Saga inventor, allowed mass-production and made Kanzaki a major somen producer.

If it breaks, I fix it myself.

So few somen makers are left,
you can't get repairs done.

And it needs fixing as soon as it goes wrong.
I can't put it off until tomorrow.

Fujimitsu has used the machine to gradually stretch the noodles to achieve the desired firm texture.

Wow, such a lot!

- Really stretchy!
- Yes, even a strong tug won't break them.

The noodles are dried slowly and evenly for half a day at around 15 degrees Celsius.

And this is the finished product.

Fujimitsu's wife Kazuko has worked by his side for forty years.

One thing they do every day without fail is to maintain their precious machine.

What's your husband like?

So serious. Making noodles, he sees nothing else.

She's worked alongside you all these years.
How do you feel about that?

I'm so grateful to her. But somehow
I've just never got round to telling her.

First time I've heard him say that.

- How about saying it a bit more in future?
- I'll do that.

They decide to teach James how to cook noodles properly.

No need to stir them.

Boil for just two minutes, then rinse with cold water.

Okay, here we go. I've got my somen noodles.

- How is it?
- Very tasty.

Somen, it's a really simple taste. You've got a slight wheaty aroma.

I think this is a perfect example of simple but delicious Japanese food.

I'm going to have some more.

- That was delicious. Thank you.
- Glad you liked it.

This will give me the energy to keep riding.

130 kilometers from his start in Kokura, James has arrived at Saga City.

Alright, so over on the right here, I think that's Saga Castle, or rather the site of Saga Castle.

Protected by its castle, Saga grew into a prosperous town, with many inns and fine merchants' houses.

What have we got here?

Come and have a look at this.

Okay, I think we've got a little Ebisu-san here.

It's a little hard to see. You can see a little smile on his face.

Ebisu-san. I think they're the Japanese god of luck, I think.

Ebisu is still a very popular deity, thought to bring prosperity for fishermen and merchants.

There's lots of really old-looking buildings here.

There's another Ebisu-san.

Statues of Ebisu can be seen all along the old highway.

It's a real nice old street.

There's somebody up here, and this looks like...

What's this? A living Ebisu-san?

- That's an interesting costume.
- Yours is fancier.

- You're like a living Ebisu-san.
- Ebisu of Saga.

Murai Reiji was a newspaper reporter in Tokyo.

He retired to Saga, and now works as a town guide.

Ebisu is one of Japan's oldest gods.

He usually has a sea bream in his left hand,
but this one is holding an account book.

He's writing down how much was sold today.

600 years ago, the lord of Saga brought back a statue of Ebisu from a trip to Honshu, inspiring popular local devotion to this deity.

His popularity endured, and people are still creating new Ebisu statues.

There are 830 in the city of Saga alone.

Shopkeepers along the Nagasaki Kaido began
worshipping Ebisu, and the custom spread.

The number of these wayside statues
kept increasing over the centuries.

People are still putting up new ones today.

A smiling god who brings happiness to all.

Good morning! Ready to go with day three.

And day three starts here, at the Ariake Sea mud flats.

And timing is everything.

Because now is low tide, I'm able to walk here, but a few hours from now, this is all going to be underwater.

Shichimenso, a kind of seepweed, turns red in late autumn.

It thrives in the Ariake Sea, where it's flooded at high tide and exposed when the tide goes out.

The Ariake Sea is home to an extremely wide variety of plants and wildlife.

James has left the Nagasaki Kaido to explore this fascinating stretch of water.

Alright, we've still got beautiful weather.

There's quite a breeze coming in from the sea.

Quite a chilly headwind, this.

And you can see, the tide's still completely out.

As James rides, the tide starts to turn.

Okay, it looks like there's a jetty down here.

Alright, quite a lot of boats in there.

Looks like they're all fishing boats.

And a few people down fishing there, fishing for...

Well, I don't know what they're fishing for.

Maybe I'll stop and ask someone.

- Good morning!
- Hello!

- Perfect day for fishing.
- It certainly is.

- What are you fishing for?
- Hazekuchi.

- Have you caught any yet?
- I got one just before.

Hazekuchi are a kind of goby
you can only catch in the Ariake Sea.

I've never heard of it.

This is the only place you get them in Japan.

They're mostly found on the Chinese and Korean coasts.

They migrated over here in the Ice Age.

It's hard to stop Komiya Shunpei talking about fish, his favorite topic.

Komiya works in environmental conservation, surveying endangered species.

- How long have you been fishing for hazekuchi?
- Ever since I was in high school.

What got you interested?

My grandfather talked about goby here as long as 50cm.
I started coming here to see these special fish.

Komiya was so enthusiastic, he regularly made the 8-hour round trip to the Ariake Sea by cycle.

This fascination with fish led to an interest in the environment, and then to his current occupation.

We wanted to restore the Ariake Sea
to its previous abundant state.

It wasn't just for the fishing,
we wanted to conserve this natural environment.

It feels so light as I reel it in.
I'm sure there's nothing on there.

- But look! You got one!
- I see it!

Lucky me, there we go.

Come here. There we go. Have a look at that.

Little guy, I don't want to eat him. He's my little friend.

He needs a name, doesn't he?

Hazekuchi... Ha, ha... Harry, what about Harry?

There we go, Harry the fish.

Okay, Harry, back you go, back in the sea.

Grow much bigger. See you again when you're 40cm long.

Bye! Off he goes.

A man with one dream - to protect the Ariake Sea.

And onward we go.

We're slowly but surely closing in on the final goal, Nagasaki.

On the final day, James will first ride west to Ureshino, before crossing over the Nagasaki border to Hasami.

We've got some interesting fields up ahead here.

That's clearly not rice, is it?

What have we got here?

The old highway here winds between tea plantations.

When Chinese potters came to Ureshino 500 years ago, the tea they brought with them inspired a local industry.

Alright, so we're into Nagasaki prefecture now, which is the final one of the three prefectures I'm passing through.

James is making a detour off the Kaido to visit Hasami.

Alright, let's have a look here.

Have a look here. This is interesting.

There we go, look at that.

Like a fine porcelain pot on top of the brick wall, with a really intricate design on it.

This is a major center of pottery production, a tradition going back 400 years.

The town still has about 60 working kilns.

Around 40 percent of Hasami's workforce is involved in pottery making.

Okay, okay, this is the place.

Let's go in here.

Okay, this is quite exotic looking, isnt't it?

Good morning!

- I called earlier. I'm James.
- I've been expecting you.

Baba Kyohei is the third of his family to run this pottery wholesale business.

This town has been making tableware for over 400 years.

Things like this rice bowl.

Can I look?

Beautiful!

The glaze is very noticeable here.

What's special about Hasami ware?

I like to say it's special
because there's nothing special about it.

We've been doing it 400 years,
but we've only ever made everyday tableware.

There's nothing really distinctive about the style.

The whole point is that these are functional items
for daily household use.

Simple designs, fired in large quantities in massive kilns, allowed Hasami Ware to be sold at very reasonable prices.

In the 17th century, this ability to produce in volume gained Hasami commissions from Dutch merchants for bottles to export soy sauce and sake.

Since 1680, we've used a system of
specialized division of labor in Hasami.

One village makes the clay, another shapes it,
others paint, cut wood, fire the kilns.

We still do it like this today, and it's how we can
offer useful products at affordable prices.

This system served us well for 400 years.

In the 1990s, competing products drove down sales of Hasami Ware, and the Baba family business suffered.

When Kyohei took over at the age of 23, he had to rebuild a company that was in poor shape.

I'd never studied design or ceramics.

All I could do at first was give my artisans
rough sketches and let them figure out the details.

These mugs were a joint creation by Baba and his artisans.

The small ones fit into the big ones.

And you can stack several up like this.

Fascinating.

Consumers loved the playful design and all the color variations, and over 500 stores nationwide began selling them.

We're going to meet the artisans who created all these colors, a first for the Hasami Ware tradition.

Waiting for us is Fukuda Taichi.

- We'll be using a green glaze.
- And those mugs are waiting to be glazed?

After firing, the finished product looks like this.

These delicate hues are the result of many experiments, playing with a variety of mineral and pigment dyes.

It's a lot of fun.

He comes up with all kinds of
interesting ideas that inspire us.

I enjoy it most when everyone is
involved in creating a product.

More people means it takes more time,
but I think it's worth it.

The best thing is that
I'm always learning something new.

The playful spirit of this tradition is what enables it to survive.

We're now nearing Nagasaki, the western end of the Kaido and our final destination.

But first, James faces one more strenuous climb.

All these little winding backstreets, I would imagine haven't really changed much in 400 years.

Right, and here we go.

Alright, this is going to be the last climb, which is going to take me to my goal.

Let's go for it.

Hello! Thank you!

Ah, made it!

Oh boy.

Hills don't come much steeper than that.

Alright, such a hilly town.

Look at all the houses, sort of banked up the side of the mountain there.

James was feeling happy he'd finally crossed the last mountain pass.

However...

And yet another climb.

Yet another hill.

But hopefully the last one.

There we go!

Ah, made it.

Alight, I just want to go up there and see the view.

And that's going to be the end of my road.

Alright, there we go.

We're looking down on the great port of Nagasaki.

This has been a major gateway for trade and travel since 1571.

Alright. So there we go.

That's the end of a fabulous 4 days on the Nagasaki-kaido.

It's been a real adventure, tracing the old route through 3 prefectures, like slipping through a time warp between the past and the present all the time.

The weather has been wonderful, and so have the people I've met along the way.

They've got a sense of their history, and the Nagasaki-kaido is part of their culture.

But they've also got a lighthearted side, a sense of playfulness.

And whether they're serving the people around them or working together to reach their goals, there's a sense of community that brings them together.

I suppose in a way like the Nagasaki-kaido itself connects the old post stations along the route.

The Nagasaki-kaido is a historical route, but its culture is still alive and well today, and I feel that culture is in safe hands, and it's going to be part of a bright and prosperous future.

With an open-minded willingness to embrace and adapt new ideas, the people along the Nagasaki Kaido created a unique culture that helped shape the course of a nation's history.