Nagasaki Kaido is a road leading north-east out of Nagasaki City, through the neighboring Saga Prefecture, ending 223km later in Kokura, in the north of Fukuoka Prefecture. For more than 200 years, beginning in the early 17th century, Japan closed its doors to the outside world. Nagasaki was the only Japanese port open to foreign ships during that time. Unusual goods from overseas traveled down the Nagasaki Kaido to other parts of Japan.