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By the 1910s, [[rickshaw]]s (a [[Bakumatsu]]/[[Meiji period]] innovation) were a common sight along the Tôkaidô. One notable traveler, [[Frederick Starr]], rode in a rickshaw, and at times aboard a train, along the Tôkaidô route, but makes no mention of automobiles traveling the road at that time. About a decade later, however, in 1923, the Ford Motor Company arranged for a Ford car (probably a Model T) and truck to be driven the length of the country, from [[Kyushu]] to [[Hokkaido]], including for some distance along the Tôkaidô.<ref>Carey, 43-44.</ref>
By the 1910s, [[rickshaw]]s (a [[Bakumatsu]]/[[Meiji period]] innovation) were a common sight along the Tôkaidô. One notable traveler, [[Frederick Starr]], rode in a rickshaw, and at times aboard a train, along the Tôkaidô route, but makes no mention of automobiles traveling the road at that time. About a decade later, however, in 1923, the Ford Motor Company arranged for a Ford car (probably a Model T) and truck to be driven the length of the country, from [[Kyushu]] to [[Hokkaido]], including for some distance along the Tôkaidô.<ref>Carey, 43-44.</ref>
Prof. Patrick Carey, who walked the Tôkaidô from Tokyo to Kyoto himself, writes that some 80% of it is still intact, in some form, albeit paved over. In many places, the modern roads follow the route of the old Tôkaidô, and in some remain largely the same width. Though in many areas the vast majority of homes and storefronts are more modern, in some traditional architecture survives, and in some places it even abounds.<ref>Carey, 49.</ref>
==References==
==References==
