Exactly sixty-nine post towns were built along its path, mostly during the 17th century, catering primarily to public officials (remember, this was feudal Japan). The Nakasendo wasn’t the only way to get from Tokyo to Kyoto, but it was certainly the most famous. Magome post town, in the Gifu Prefecture © Freshwest Hundreds of years later, the surviving post towns are a veritable portal into the past… Tsumago post town © Tommy Miller The villages dressed the perimeter of the Nakasendo, a 500+ kilometre pedestrian highway between Tokyo and Kyoto so frequented by samurais and nobles that it became known as the “The Princess’ Superhighway” ( Hime no kaido). These pit-stops became small villages built specifically for the weary traveller a place to recharge for the night with a hot meal, a spot of sake, maybe even some good conversation with a fellow samurai – kind of like a 7-Eleven, only way, way better. What is a post town, you ask? Essentially it’s a pit-stop, albeit a very charming one lost in time, which popped up along Japan’s ancient highways during the Edo period. We’ve got an achilles heel for places stuck in the past, and today on our armchair adventures, we’re stopping off in the sleepy streets of Japan’s cinematic post towns, known locally as Shukuba (宿場).