Could you believe people were travelling at a speed of 285 km/h (177 mph) 60 years ago?
EDIT: I made a mistake! The maximum speed of 285 km/h belongs to the modern trains which are used today. The first generation of Shinkansen reached 210 km/h (130 mph) instead, which is still very fast but not as crazy as I first thought.
https://creco.net/tokaido-53stations-complete-walking-guide/ (site in Japanese)
At least you can still make the pilgrimage over ~18 days.
But since even on normal speed trains it takes less than 9.5h from Nihonbashi to 3jo-Ohashi, only the most dedicated cross country hikers would be interested, or perhaps a group would for an annual or once every few years event.
I grew up out that way. It was something I had wanted to do the moment I heard about it in school.
Sadly, I’m in America now, with all that entails.
Sometimes I play the Tokaido board game and dream though.
(Side note: why does Japanese text immediately disappear on entry in Voyager, iOS 26?)