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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Okay, 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.

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.

Okay, what have we got here?

Got a little raccoon dog welcoming me.

Many of the old post stations along the highway have grown into sizeable towns.

Kurosaki-shuku began as a post station 15 kilometers from the start of the Kaido.

The old route 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.

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

They're obviously busy.

They've been 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.

It's a mild sweetness that fills the mouth.

A special treat for James - he's invited in to see how konpeitō 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.

Each sweet starts as a single grain of sugar.

It's a 14-day process to turn the sugar grains into sweets that measure 1.5 centimeters across.

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

As the tubs rotate, the grains stick to each other, gradually forming spheres with this unique bumpy surface.

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.

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 road over Hiyamizu Pass, one of the hardest sections on the highway, is still paved with the original stones from 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.

James is now in Saga, and is approaching Tosu City.

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.

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.

Ōmura 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 Kaidō introduced this method of selling medicines.

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

Ōmura 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.

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

You've been taking these for a long time.

Today's total comes to 330 yen.

-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.

Ōmura had to take over the family firm at age 21, after illness forced his father to retire.

It was very hard going at first for the young man.

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 Ōmura 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.

This section of the Kaido runs through the Saga Plain, a fertile farming area.

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

These statues can be seen all along the old highway.

There are over 830 in the city of Saga alone.

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.

Devotion to Ebisu started here centuries ago, after the lord of Saga brought back a statue of the deity from his travels.

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.

Close by the Kaido at this point are the tidal wetlands of the Ariake Sea.

Right, 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.

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

Another quick detour takes James to the town of Hasami, a major center of pottery production for 400 years.

Alright, let's have a look here.

Just stop and 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.

James has found a large pottery store.

Good morning!

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

Baba Kyōhei is the third of his family to run this business.

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.

When Baba took over from his father at age 23, falling demand for its wares was threatening the company's future.

To rescue his family firm, Baba decided he had to come up with ideas for fresh products.

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.

Working closely with his artisans, Baba created this range of mugs.

They were a hit - consumers loved the playful design and the many color variations, and over 500 stores nationwide began selling them.

The small ones fit into the big ones.

And you can stack several up like this.

Fascinating.

Baba takes James to meet the artisans who are helping him transform the Hasami Ware tradition.

-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.

One last pass to cross before James reaches his goal - Nagasaki, the western end of the Kaido.

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.

There we go!

Ah, made it.

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

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

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

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

So there we go.

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

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.