Route 16: The Road That Created "Japan"

2021/02/13

Route 16 is a ring road with an actual length of approximately 330 kilometers that surrounds the Tokyo metropolitan area. It passes through 27 cities and towns in four prefectures—Kanagawa, Tokyo, Saitama, and Chiba—from Yokosuka and Hashirimizu on the Miura Peninsula, through Yokohama, Sagamihara, Machida, Hachioji, Fussa, Iruma, Kawagoe, Saitama, Kasukabe, Noda, Kashiwa, Funabashi, Chiba, Ichihara, Kimitsu, and Kisarazu, to Futtsu on the Boso Peninsula.

The general image of Route 16, which was established in 1963, is that of a suburban road connecting new towns. However, tens of thousands of years of human history have accumulated in the areas through which this road passes. After the war, US military bases were concentrated here, and many popular music trends took flight. From the end of the Edo period through the Meiji era and the pre-war period, the raw silk industry developed to support the promotion of new industries, and naval ports and air bases were established, leading the way for national wealth and military strength. In the Middle Ages, samurai rose to power, and the Kamakura Shogunate was born. The Kofun, Yayoi, Jomon, and Paleolithic periods—there has always been active human life here.

In this book, I have attempted to unravel the secret of how Japanese civilization and culture developed along this road. The key is the topography. Two peninsulas with rias coastlines, numerous plateaus and hills, giant rivers flowing between them, and Tokyo Bay with its vast tidal flats. People preferred to live in small basins born on the edges of the plateaus and hills in the Route 16 area. Shell mounds, burial mounds, old castles, military facilities, and new towns were all drawn here by the topography of Route 16.

Ancient history lies beneath Route 16, and beneath that lies a unique topography. This perspective was cultivated during my student days at Keio University over 30 years ago. In Hiyoshi, I was involved in nature conservation activities in the Koajiro Forest on the Miura Peninsula, led by Professor Emeritus Yuji Kishi of biology, and I traveled back and forth along Route 16 from Yokohama to Miura many times. I learned that this region is made up of a series of small basins and that there are ruins from the Jomon and Paleolithic periods. In Mita, under Professor Emeritus Shinya Sugiyama of economic history, I researched the role that the Yokohama Specie Bank played in Japan's modern economy and wrote my graduation thesis on how the trade of cotton and raw silk, which is closely related to Route 16, grew into Japan's main export industry.

The insights I gained under the guidance of my mentors at Keio University became a book 32 years later. Currently, as a university faculty member, I am engaged in educational work every day. I want to provide my students with the kind of long-range insights that my mentors at Keio University gave me.

Route 16: The Road That Created "Japan"

Hiroichi Yanase

Shinchosha

232 pages, 1,450 yen (excluding tax)

*Affiliations and titles are as of the time of publication.