sides of cliffs. The roads join three adjacent basins separated and surrounded by high mountains. Like many ancient road systems, the Shu Roads formed a network of major and minor roads with different roads being used at different historical times. However, a number of roads are commonly identified as the main routes. Japan were roads in Japan dating from the Edo period (between 1603 and 1868). They act important roles in transportation like the Appian way of ancient Roman roads. Major examples include the Edo Five Routes, all of which started at Edo (modern-day Tokyo). Minor examples include sub-routes such as the Hokuriku Kaidō and the Nagasaki Kaidō. Kaidō, however, do not include San'yōdō, San'indō, Nankaidō and Saikaidō, which were part of the even more ancient system of Yamato government called Gokishichidō. This was the name for ancient administrative units and the roads within these units, organized in Japan during the Asuka period (AD 538–710), as part of a legal and governmental system borrowed from the Chinese. Many highways and railway lines in modern Japan follow the ancient routes and carry the same names. The early roads radiated from the capital at Nara or Kyoto. Later, Edo was the reference, and even today Japan reckons directions and measures distances along its highways from Nihonbashi in Chūō, Tokyo. Indian subcontinent The Grand Trunk Road in South Asia was the main road from modern day Bangladesh to northern Pakistan and Afghanistan. A route since antiquity, it was constructed into a coherent highway by the Maurya Empire in 300 BC. Soon after, the Greek diplomat Megasthenes (c. 350 – c. 290 BC) wrote of his travels along the road to reach Hindu kingdoms in the 3rd century BC. After invading India over 1,500 years later, Mughals extended the Grand Trunk Road westwards from Lahore to Kabul (the capital of Afghanistan) crossing the Khyber Pass. The road was later improved and extended from Calcutta to Peshawar by the British rulers of colonial India. For many centuries, the road has acted as a major trade route and facilitated travel and postal communication. The Grand Trunk Road remains under use for transportation in India. The Khyber Pass was an all-season mountain pass connecting Afghanistan to western Pakistan. Brick-paved streets appeared in India as early as 3000 BC. Europe Except for Roman roads, European pathways were rarely in good shape and depended on the geography of the