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The story
In Onomichi, Hiroshima Prefecture, the Ekimae ferry route linking the mainland to Mukaishima island has been able to run only one boat during the morning rush since mid-September. A crew shortage has made it impossible to operate two boats, forcing a single-boat shuttle service that leaves middle and high school commuters stranded on the dock — a problem known as “oki-nokoshi” (being left behind). Some schools have responded by staggering start times. The thread sprawled into a broader debate over keeping public transit running, touching on how the detour via the Shimanami Kaido is too far to be practical, proposals to build a new bridge or tunnel, and the suggestion that the root cause is low pay for ferry crews.
Published 11/1 (Sun) 12:05
Chugoku Shimbun Digital
The Ekimae route, one of the ferry lines connecting the mainland to Mukaishima island in Onomichi, Hiroshima Prefecture, has been unable to run two boats during the early-morning rush since mid-September. Due to a crew shortage, it’s operating a single-boat shuttle. This is affecting commuting students and tourists, and some schools have been forced to push back their start times.
Source: news.yahoo.co.jp / Original article here
What people said
Brings back memories
That looks like it was the Fukumoto Kisen line — it's since shut down
No idea if it's walkable, but even by car it takes quite a while, especially on the Honshu side
You can
You can cross it by bike
The bridge sits at a crazy high elevation though
Don't go hauling that many people out to the island lol
Now I'm actually curious what kind of place this is
FYI, Onomichi's Mukaishima-cho
has a population of over 10,000
Even so, you could say it's impressive they're keeping the ferry running at all, even if it's down from 3 routes to 1
it'd be nice if people burned out on city life went there, rented an old house in Onomichi, and lived a relaxed life piloting the ferry every day
Obviously nobody wants to
You think just chanting 'relaxed, laid-back life' is enough to pull people in with no strings attached?
Watching to make sure kids don't fall into the sea
isn't a job you can hand off to a robot yet, I'd say
If a kid fell in, it'd get blamed as 'nobody was watching'
"And that's where today's product comes in — the Human Container! Order now and get a second one free for the family!"
Trouble happens even with a human watching
About 20 years ago there was a fatal accident on the Fukumoto ferry
and there were plenty of incidents after that too, right up until it shut down
Going via the Onomichi Bridge looks like a pretty big detour
A 'school boat' instead of a school bus probably isn't realistic, but that's for Onomichi residents to decide
The Onomichi Channel almost never gets rough waves, so
it seems like you could run shuttle trips with just outboard motorboats
Well of course 'the opposite shore is clearly visible' — it's only 200m away lol
It'd free up land for station-front development too — build a Tenmaya or a Halows there (regional department store/supermarket chains)
People could walk over to the island too — win-win for everyone
Shipbuilding is Onomichi's local industry — fill in this strait and the shipyards around here would be wiped out
There's basically no detour route either
Ah I see, a drawbridge then?
A 100m drawbridge opening on each side would be quite a sight
Not sure about the details, but couldn't the unglamorous industry just move somewhere else?
Rather than building a bridge, an immersed-tube tunnel would probably be cheaper
Wouldn't an immersed-tube tunnel block the channel? It's apparently only about 10m deep
It doesn't block it because you bury it
it's precisely because it's shallow that this method works
https://www.pa.kkr.mlit.go.jp/kobegicyo/img/technology/jyuudannzu4.jpg
Relocating shipbuilding elsewhere seems hard — environmental objections would kick up a fuss
Then let's just scrap it outright
There are kids struggling because of this, after all
children are the nation's treasure
Some of those kids' parents work at the shipbuilding companies though
Rather than that, wouldn't it make more sense for Onomichi businesses and the city to jointly fund it and run a boat as a local improvement project?
It says the boat already exists, and that it's run by a public-private venture (3rd-sector company)
That part's not the problem
there's just nobody to do the job
Same as bus drivers
it's not that there's nobody around
it's that no one applies because they're not paying a decent wage
Not paying proper wages for proper work
staffing agencies skimming their cut like idiots
a social structure that justifies low wages — that's what's rotten
The fare's only 100 yen, so isn't that just how it goes?
It's the same story with public transit all across Japan
Osaka City scrapping its municipal bus service was a massive blunder
Re: #70
I crossed it on a kick scooter
The view was so amazing it made my head spin
I still use a photo from that day as my phone wallpaper
Views like that are a dime a dozen around the Seto Inland Sea
That area's covered in bridges connecting islands, yeah
tons of similar ones
Sorry
When you normally live stuck between office buildings, even that much is enough to move you
Seems like there's already a ropeway nearby — they'd just need to redirect it
Since it'd run over open water, the wind load on the cable would be brutal
Background and Talking Points
Onomichi’s ferry service is run by a public-private (third-sector) company backed by the city, with fares reportedly around 100 yen. While the cheap fare benefits riders, it’s also seen as weakening the operator’s finances and making it harder to secure crew. Commenters split between those pushing for hard infrastructure — a bridge or tunnel across the strait — and those arguing the real root cause is a low-wage structure for ferry crews. Worth noting: the ferry featured in the film ‘Sabishinbo,’ mentioned early in the thread, is not the Ekimae route currently in trouble, but a route once run by the now-defunct Fukumoto Kisen line — several replies flagged this distinction to avoid confusion. Also, shipyards line the Onomichi Channel, so landfill or bridge-building can’t proceed simply, given the impact on the local shipbuilding industry.
※This article is compiled from excerpts and a summary of the 5ch (News Speed+) thread “[Hiroshima] Onomichi station-front ferry’s student ‘left-behind’ problem continues — crew shortage forces service cuts, schools stagger start times“.
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