Japan’s country roads are scenic and memorable, especially when you construct a road with grooves to play music when tires go over it at 60km/hr! Melody Roads were invented by Shizuo Shinoda in the 1980s and the first one constructed in East Hokkaido’s Nakashibetsu Town. I traveled out there to meet him and drive his amazing invention, the Melody Road. It was a crazy idea that he made a reality as an invention to bring happiness to drivers.
There are 30 melody roads around Japan. We look at 4 of them in this episode.
Nakashibetsu, Hokkaido “Ah, Lovely Meadows” / “Shiretoko Ryujou”
Yonago Tottori “Ge Ge Ge no Kitaro” theme
Kaneyama, Fukushima “Take me Home, Country Road” (State Song of West Virginia)
More information on Melody Roads from the inventor:
http://melodyroad.jp (Japanese Only)
