Built in 1876 the Meiji tunnel was Japan’s first toll tunnel. This brick structure was built in order to allow travelers on the famous Tokaido highway to avoid climbing Utsunoya pass which was known as the third most difficult mountain crossing on the entire route from Tokyo to Kyoto. The lighting was really poor inside the tunnel and we didn’t get much footage and thus the video is fairly short and of low quality. It’s really pretty spooky inside this tunnel especially as there are few visitors to this area and one must normally pass through the mountain all alone. Water drips from the ceilings and our footsteps reverberate through the entire length of the tunnel. The author Patrick Carey relates his experience here in his wonderful book “Rediscovering The Old Tokaido” and describes how the lights were out when he walked through the tunnel on a dark evening without a flashlight.
