At the beginning of the Edo period (1603–1867), the Tokugawa shogunate went about building roads and highways that connected other parts of the country to the administrative capital of Edo (present-day Tokyo). Then a wooden bridge, Nihonbashi – a name that translates literally to "Japan Bridge" – was where all these roads began.
As you walk towards the center of the bridge, you’ll see a 0-kilometer marker, from where highway distances from Tokyo are sometimes still measured. Keeping watch on either side of the bridge are bronze lions and winged kirin (mythical dragon-like creatures) that, along with the current bridge, were the result of a construction done in 1911. An overhead expressway partly obscures the view of the bridge, though it is in the process of being removed – a project that is expected to finish in 2041.
