THE OLD TOKAIDO - DAY 2

Tokaido is a series about a road in Japan, or rather two roads: an old one-- once Japan’s most important road-- and a new one, paved on top of it. Naturally the films are not merely about these roads; they focus on what happened or happens along them, intertwining two road trips. The first puts us in the company of Ando Hiroshige, one of Japan's greatest artists, who traveled the Tokaido in the early 1830s. In the second we follow in his footsteps to see what remains of what he saw. It is a simple concept, but it goes far beyond simply comparing past and present. Because understanding Japan requires a trip into its past, and one could do far worse than to pick the Tokaido for that excursion. With Hiroshige we also obtain a terrific guide. He not only made the trip at a fascinating time, he left a superb artistic impression of his trip. The contrast between past and present is often striking, but gradually we learn there is much more left of his times than what the scenery seems to suggest. Just as Hiroshige knew all along…