Maybe when those roads were made, but, in the era of the photos, things were relatively modern. They had paved roads and telephone poles. Cars, motorcycles and airplanes came into the picture right at the very end of the Meiji era.
This one is from Nikko, which, even then, was a getaway from the big city. It shows some of the civil infrastructure in an ostensibly rural area:
This one is from Nikko, which, even then, was a getaway from the big city. It shows some of the civil infrastructure in an ostensibly rural area:
https://the-public-domain-review.imgix.net/collections/herbe...