1 Introduction

Korea is an island country which possesses 3,358 islands. According to the Ministry of Land, Transport, and Maritime Affairs in 2010, there were 2,876 unmanned islands, which captured 85.65% of all the islands. Excluding the five big islands, which include Jeju-do, Geoje-do, Jin-do, Wan-do, and Namhae-do, most of the island areas of Korea are very small. Jeollanam-do makes up 62% of the islands of Korea. Shinan-gun is the only administrative district of Korea that is organized with the islands, possessing approximately 1,000 islands. In the recent decade on the islands of Shinan-gun , there have been very big changes (Park 2016). Through the bridges projects, connect the inlands and the islands (Fig. 1). The connections that link the islands, such as between an island and an island, between an island and an inland area, are through the projects of the bridges that connect the land and the island (Kim and Hong 2007). The reason the government has given for these projects has been in an effort to solve the inconveniences of the residents and the development of the tourism resources and similar issues (Hong 2008).

Fig. 1
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New Millennium Bridge. Constructing one of biggest island-connecting bridge connecting Amtaedo Island and Aphaedo Island, Shinan-gun, Korea. Aphaedo Island already connected to Mokpo City

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The central government as well as Jeollanam-do has been betting vigorously on the projects as if it is a matter of life or death. The bridges that connect the land and the islands, and the projects that connect the islands to each other which connect the islands of this region are all the focus of these projects. In the Jeollanam-do region, plans are scheduled to construct 103 land-connecting bridges and island-connecting bridges by investing 12.1451 trillion won from the present until the year 2020. Among these, as of March 2014, 44 projects have been completed, and 25 are under progress (Fig. 2). The land-connecting bridges are lifelong, cherished wishes of the island residents as well. It is the desire and initiation of the island residents and the regional administration for these projects, articulating that the land-connecting bridges are needed for solving the transportation challenges of the residents, from expanding the market of the agricultural and fisheries products that are produced on the islands, as well as for attracting the tourists to support and sustain economies. Although the land-connecting bridges and the island-connecting bridges have already been installed in many island areas and have been showing positive effects regarding the attraction, transportation, and facilitation of the tourists and residents, the reality is that there have been negative influences appearing slowly as well (Hong and Kim 2011). Because of the construction of the land-connecting bridges, more tourists have been traveling to the islands, and thus, the incomes of the residents have been increasing, and negatives such as increased traveler numbers have been slowly decreasing the more time passes. Ever since the biggest attraction, or, in other words, the isolation, that plagued the islands was resolved with the land-connecting bridges .

Fig. 2
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Bridges connecting island and cities in Shina-gun, Jeollanamdo Province, Korea. Bridges connecting Jido and Jeungdo, bridges connecting Jaeun-Amtae-Anjwa-Palgeum, bridge connecting Bigeum and Docho, and bridge connecting Haeui and Shineui were completed. New Millennium Bridge connecting Aphae and Amtae are under constructing by 2018. Moreover, Bridge connecting Anjwa and Bigeum is planning in future

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The value evaluations surrounding the mysteriousness and the rarity have been getting worse. In the case in which a visit was made by ship, enduring the inconvenience of the transportation, the difficulties regarding lodging and boarding gave tourists challenges in regard to visiting and staying on the island. However, despite the inconvenient conditions, the top attractiveness of being able to make the trip was a memorable experience. In the case of Jeungdo in Shinan-gun though, previously, there had been plenty of time for activities such as eating the small octopus caught at a mid-flat nearby while waiting for the ship on a pier of Saok-do, which made the experience more holistic. Ever since the bridge connection, the trip has become a light trip island travel which everything became easily traveled through a one-day visit.

The problem is that if such a land-connecting bridge gets installed, the budget that has been currently supported by the Ministry of Security and Public Administration (MOSPA) will be severed within 10 years, according to the Island Development Promotion Act (Kim 2013). According to the Island Development Promotion Act, an ‘island’ means an area of which the 4 sides are surrounded by the sea when there is full tide.Footnote 1 As an island that is connected to the land by a breakwater or a bridge, an island that has passed 10 years is not seen as ‘The islands of the sea’ according to the regulation in Article 2 (the range of the islands). Because of this, the residents do not know well that it can become a situation which is very unsuitable to the criteria for being a ‘designated island’ for which the budgetary support by the central government is possible. Because many of the land-connecting bridges and island-connecting bridges of Jeollanam-do , which has the archipelago, have been already started being constructed and construction has been scheduled in the future, the diverse problems will take place in the future in many ways that cannot be predicted and anticipated in advance (Kim 2016).

I believe that, if we closely examine the situations of the island regions both before and after the constructions of the land-connecting bridges and the island-connecting bridges on the main islands in Japan, which have already been built forty years ago, then perhaps these structures can be utilized as information providing the data and the materials by those professionals who detailed the realistic information of the negative aspects for the development of the connecting bridge over the archipelago in Jeollanam-do. It is intended that this data and material will be understood and organized by centering focus on the contents that were jointly planned and covered by the KBS Gwangju Headquarters and the Institution for Marine and Island Cultures, Mokpo National University . While comparing the before and the after construction of a land-connecting bridge in the island region of the Seto Inland Sea of Japan and, in order to confirm its influences on the islands, I visited several islands within the Seto Inland Sea and conducted interviews with the residents. I also discussed, in depth, the details regarding the land-connecting bridge with the experts from the Hiroshima University , the experts from The Center for Research and Promotion of Japanese Center, etc.

2 The Present Situation of the Islands of Japan

Japan, which is an island country, is organized with 6,852 islands. Here, if the four islands, including Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku and Kyushu , that are included in the mainland, are excluded, the total number of islands becomes 6,847 islands. Among these, there are 418 manned islands and 6,429 unmanned islands (Kim 2013). According to an international investigation by the Japanese Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, when taking a look at the trends of the population of Japan from 1955 until 2010, it appeared that, compared to the fact that the population of the country had increased by 40%, the population of the island regions had decreased by 50%. In other words, the rate of the decrease of the population of the island regions was very high compared to the other regions. Also, between 2002 and 2006, the moving population of the islands had decreased by 11%. The situation that is even more surprising is that 40% of all the inhabited islands did not have any doctor and that there were merely 10 islands that had obstetrics. The actual circumstance is that, on 185 islands, which is 70%, there are no health centers. In such a poor environment of the island regions, the educational facilities cannot be established or maintained. As a result, the closing down of the schools has been continuously occurring. Perhaps, we are seeing one aspect of Japan which has already become urbanized. However, the overall situation of the Japanese islands does not have a big difference when compared with that of Korea. In order to overcome such a situation, the Japanese government enacted the Ritou (a term ‘Ritou’ means ‘isolated island’ in Japanese) Promotion Act for the promotion of the islands nationwide in 1953. As a law for improving the many kinds of handicaps possessed by the islands, this law can be said to be a basic law that sorts out the islands of which the lives and the industrial bases are weak, selects the Ritou promotion countermeasure implementation regions, and not only maintains the social overhead capital facilities, including the electricity, the waterworks, the ports, the fishing ports, the roads, the airports, and the bases of the industries as the national subsidy programs but also improves the environment, as well as medical treatments, along with education, and other areas (Kim 2013). Among the inhabited islands, 305 islands have been receiving the management and the support according to the many kinds of legal systems. The 254 inhabited islands, excluding the islands of Okinawa , Amami, Ogasawara , etc., and the annexed islands are the Ritou promotion countermeasure implementation regions according to the Ritou Promotion Act .Footnote 2

3 Policy for the Islands of Japan

The national territory of Japan is comprised of the islands by itself. If I were to understand the recognition of the Japanese regarding an ‘island’ found by searching ‘Japan’, mainly, the recognition of the island with regard to the geography, the residential landscape , the power, the historical space, and life has been appearing well (Hong 2011).

While amending the Ritou Promotion Act for nearly 60 years, since 1953, Japan has been considerably maintaining the industries and the life bases of the islands.Footnote 3 Meanwhile, ever since the ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) , Japan has been providing many-sided support regarding the preservation, the use, and the management of the marine territories or, in other words, the exclusive economic zones (EEZs) . It has been providing the enormous support both nationally and in terms of the citizens particularly regarding the inhabited islands. In the case of the islands, however, where the decrease of the population and the aging of the population have been coming to the fore, the reality is different. According to the National Institute of Population and Social Security Research,Footnote 4 which has been dealing with the population statistics research on Japan, the prediction is that the population will decrease in the islands of the whole region of Japan in the future. Among these islands, it is predicted that in Ritou, which is designated by the Ritou Promotion Act , the population which was 3.46 million in the year 2005 will decrease by around 79% in the year 2025. Once the population decreases in this way, the structure that can perform the economic and social functions of the island will collapse. In Japan, such a reality has been recognized, and, based on the Ritou Promotion Act, a plan for improved maintenance, the special characteristics of the island and the value of the native culture have been sought after (https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E9%9B%A2%E5%B3%B6%E6%8C%AF%E8%88%88%E6%B3%95).

The special, natural geographical characteristics of an island can be said to be the ocean type, the isolation, and the narrownessFootnote 5 (MacArthur and Wilson 1967; Hong 2008; Whittaker and Fernandez-Palacios 2007). Such special characteristics have developed along with the changes of civilized society and with the changes of the socioeconomic environment, which have been surrounding the island, and both which determine rise and fall of the island region. From Meiji Era (late 19th C), Japan has been developing focused on the light industry which is based on mass production. By joining the free trade systems like the USA, the international trade in the international market is geared toward developing. After the WWII, one of the resulting effects was as a result, urbanization along the coastal areas at the same time as the pivotal, provincial, and urban axesFootnote 6 took place, and the industrial areas took charge of the comprehensive role involving productions, processing, and distributions. Though most of the heavy industries had been the exceptional situation in the island regions, excluding the ship-building industry, however, this changed in 1953 with the Ritou Promotion Act becoming enacted along with large-scale finances being established, and the maintenance of industries and life foundations was pursued.

The fishermen during the non-fishing time were recruited and employed for the public projects, including port constructions, road constructions, and others of the like. With a lot of the fishermen being solicited into industries, and becoming employed by such public projects, the industrial structures and the lifestyles of the island regions changed. The changes of the labor structure and the employment opportunities established a change for the public projects, not only for the island regions but also for the urban regions which were expanded. The standard of life became enhanced, thereby increasing the education opportunities as well. This also changed the awareness, regarding the islands, and therefore, induced the increases of urban inflows to the island populations. The awareness of island nation (‘Shimaguni’ in Japanese) has also been becoming rarefied. With developments becoming centered on the cities without any relation to the developments of the island regions, the interest and the awareness in the islands has been getting gradually distant.

The population of the world has been continuing to climb close to nearly to seven billion people. The problems of preservation, uses, and management of territorial waters, exclusive economic zones (EEZs) , etc., have been getting acutely in danger along with the securing of the food sources, the securing of the economic blocs, the global environment problem, as well as other pressing issues. Since the effectuation of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) , the disputes with surrounding countries have been getting more frequent because of national profits related to the territorial waters and the EEZs. Between Japan and China , the territorial dispute surrounding the Senkaku Islands (Chinese name—Diaoyudao) is unusual. Before the enactment of the Basic Ocean law, in The Ritou Promotion Act the roles of the country and the citizens, including the demarcations, the management, the territories of Japan, and the EEZs are clearly stated. With the enforcement of the Basic Ocean Law in 2008, the policies related to the preservation and management of Ritou and the promotion of Ritou were clearly stated. In the year 2010, The Law on the Low Water Lines Preservation and the Base Facilities Maintenance was enacted. Okinotorishima and Minamitorishima were designated as the specially decided Ritou.Footnote 7 The port constructions, as well as others like it, that can manage specializations have been proceeded with.

4 The Comparison Between the Before and the After of the Construction of the Land-Connecting Bridge on an Island in the Seto Inland Sea in Japan

4.1 The Construction of the Bridge

In the 1970s and the 1980s, according to the economic development of Japan, most of the population of the island regions moved to the cities. The island region residents, who had relied on the first level industries, proved that the economic development of Japan was an important opportunity for deciding the new direction for the employment. Many of the young people moved to the cities and were incorporated into the economic activities of Japan. The construction of a land-connecting bridge in Japan has the personality of a national territory remodeling that has innovatively improved the industry and the distribution while at the same time, linked the island regions that have been cut off with the mainland, by connecting Honshu and Shikoku (Fig. 3).

Fig. 3
figure 3

Seto Long-Bridge , Japan (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fc/Seto-Ohashi_Bridge.jpg/1280px-Seto-Ohashi_Bridge.jpg)

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In actuality, the Seto Long-Bridge (13.1 km), which was constructed from 1978 until 1988, is the bridge that was completed while constructing the island-connecting bridges on five islands in the Seto Inland Sea, and it is the very first land-connecting bridge that is connected by a railroad. The purpose was to connect Honshu and Shikoku, and to diffuse the economic, ripple effects by making the logistics of economics and the human exchanges vigorously connected.

4.2 The Changes of the Island Ever Since the Construction of the Bridge

4.2.1 The Opinions of the Experts

After the large-scale bridge was constructed in the Seto Inland Sea, in order to confirm several kinds of changes, I visited islands expert Professor Nobukazu Nakagoshi (Co-editor of this book) in The Graduate School IDEC of Hiroshima University and we discussed the present situation of islands of the Seto Inland Sea in Japan and the problem of the land-connecting bridges (Fig. 4). The main points of the discussion with Prof. Nakagoshi are the following: The land-connecting bridges are desperately needed to solve the ongoing problem of needed emergency medical treatments regarding initially, the elderly on the islands as well as the other island residents in the situation in where they need such care. However, the opinion that negative problems, too, accompany the bridges, including the safety of the island, the inflow of the foreign invasive species, the destruction of the environment, the increased noise levels, the occurrence of waste, along with other similar issues. For example, when a land-connection has not been made, the people get to the island by ship, and thus the identities of the people visiting the island could be identified, but presently, because passage is possible 24 h a day, it is said that protecting the safety of the island (especially, theft acts and similar detrimental issues) became urgent.

Fig. 4
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Interview with Prof. Nobukazu Nakagoshi at Hiroshima University, Japan (photo from KBS Kwangju)

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Prof. Nakagoshi also pointed out other negative aspects, including the inflow of the foreign and invasive species by automobiles, the increase of pollution, the occurrence of increased wastes from tourists.

Because most of the large-sized bridges had been constructed from the 1970s until the 1980s, according to the economic and social atmosphere of the time, the idea was to improve the poor environments of the islands by connecting the islands with land. However, if we were to judge construction at the time point in the twenty-first century, it was a very mistaken decision in hindsight. Although there are the problems of the poor emergency medical treatments and the poor education of the islands, the situation had been such that they could be solved by the islands themselves. The social atmosphere, along with the opinions of the island residents, is such that they must be solved by coming to the land. Without fail, this ideology became an impetus for pursuing the construction of the land-connecting bridges. However, vastly different from the expectation, the environment conditions of the islands became worsened after the construction. Though it had been anticipated that after construction occurred and residents being connected with the islands, many of the inland people would settle down after entering the islands, increased tourists would visit, and the industries would rise. Instead, the populations of the islands have been increasingly reduced, the aging of the population has been rapid, the tourists have been visiting only temporarily, and the industries have been deteriorating further. The small-scale ship-building industry, despite the fact that it has the strong point that it can be located in the island area, the labor force was lost due to the decrease of the population (Fig. 5).

Fig. 5
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Lecturing of Prof. Nobukazu Nakagoshi about necessity of sustainable society and greenness at island stakeholder’s meeting at Mukaijima, Onomichi City, Hiroshima Prefecture (September 12, 2015)

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Despite such negative matters, Prof. Nakagoshi gave the opinion that regarding the identity of the island, the culture, and the development of the unique social system of the island, must be protected by the residents of the island themselves. The islands in the Seto Inland Sea still possess and maintain their respective culture and identity. In other words, even if there are islands that are near to each other, they have individual personalities that are unique from each other. He points out that, with the islands being connected with the inlands through the land-connecting bridges, such uniqueness and identity of the islands have become greatly damaged and that it must not be overlooked that this has been acting as a new factor of frustration among the island residents. The viewpoints of Prof. Nakagoshi, as an ecologist, on the land-connecting bridges get largely divided into two categories. First, there are the changes of the unique environments of the islands due to the inflows of the foreign environments, and then secondly, the changes of the unique identities of the islands.

4.2.2 The Opinions of the Island Residents

In order to understand in detail the strong and weak points of the land-connecting bridges and the island-connecting bridges by listening to the residents, I explored the islands (Shimokamagari, Kamikamagari, and Toyoshima) in the Seto Inland Sea, which belong to Kure City in the Hiroshima Prefecture. I arrived at Shimokamagari Island, after passing over the Akinada Bridge (Opened in 2000 with the length of 1,175 m) in Kure City. It is well-known in Korea as an island in the Seto Inland Sea where a Joseon Dynasty correspondence delegation stayed. It has been having a magnificent commemoration event every year. The museum, the event, and other activities related to the correspondence delegation of Joseon Dynasty are continued events that invigorate the economy of Shimokamagari Island (Fig. 6).

Fig. 6
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Shimokamagari, Kamikamagari, and Toyoshima in Hiroshima Prefecture, the Seto Inland Sea, Japan. The ‘Akinada Tobishima Sea Road’ (http://akinada4island.blog86fc2.com/) was created by connected island group (photo from http://tobishima7.com/en/forcyclist/)

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Shimokamagari and Kamikamagari are connected by the Kamagari Bridge , which opened in 1979 with the length of 480 m. The remaining islands are also connected by the island-connecting bridges. I was able to listen in detail, regarding the current situations of the islands before and after the opening of the land-connecting bridges and the island-connecting bridges by contacting the tour guides and the resident representatives (Chief monks, principals, lodging business, restaurants, etc.) of each island. It was said that, when the island-connecting bridges was installed for the very first time, it was in preparation for integration of the education system, the joint responses by the industrial system, and the invigoration of tourism to assist the situation in which the population had been decreasing. In order to smoothly send the products such as tangerines produced on the islands to the inlands, a land-connecting bridge was constructed based on The Farming and Fisheries Villages Support Act (Although, as a result of a B/C analysis, there is no economic feasibility, and in the case of the farming and fisheries villages, there is a plan for the special support). Although it was decided that the central government and the local government would pay the constructions costs, the situation is that in some areas, a told was needed to fund such costs. The price of this toll is an unexpected and expensive cost to the island residents. As a result, the residents submitted a petition expressing that the toll should be inexpensive. Recently, it was devised so that a kind of a ticket (token) is bought inexpensively and used. However, the present condition is that there is nearly no special support for the island residents. In Japan, too, once an island gets connected to the land, it is excluded from The Island Support Act. With the construction of the Akinada Bridge , a lot of the island population moved to Kure City nearby, or another nearby city.

The reduction of the population and the collapse of the educational system, the cases of Kamikamagari and Toyoshima are even more serious situations, both of which are connected by the island-connecting bridges. With the islands becoming connected by the bridges and with the frequent commuting to and from school between Kure and Shimokamagari . Previously, the elementary schools and the junior high schools in Kamikamagari and Toyoshima had been temporarily closed. According to the opposition by local residents, the school districts had been adjusted by having a junior high school in Kamikamagari and an elementary school in Toyoshima so that they could cooperate with each other and the students could commute to and from school. Presently, the decrease of the population and the aging of the population are in a very precarious situation, since it is anticipated that the education system will become nearly extinct as a result of these two factors. The construction of the land-connecting bridges was begun to reduce the gap with the main territory in terms of the quality of life and in order to promote the economies of the islands. Particularly through the invigoration of tourism, it had been intended to create economic profits for the island residents, but in reality the situation has become very different. Between three to four years, ever since the construction of the Akinada Bridge , the number of the tourists has explosively increased. Especially, through the diverse showcased events that are related to the Joseon mission to Japan, it became an opportunity for publicizing the brand of the island to the whole nation as well as internationally for Shimokamagari (Fig. 7).

Fig. 7
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Mitarai fisherman’s village in Toyoshima, Japan. This historically traditional landscape had designated as an important landscape area by Japanese Government. This area is well presenting traditional architecture and street planning in Edo Era (seventeenth–nineteenth century)

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Currently in the Kamagari Archipelago, all of the seven islands are presently connected with the island-connecting bridges. Although 60,000–70,000 tourists per year have been coming to these islands, most have been concentrating on Shimokamagari , which is connected via the Akinada Bridge . In the case of Toyoshima, around 2,000–3,000 people visit per year. However, there are nearly no accommodations, and the reality has been that the tourists leave after touring for only two to three hours. Before the construction of the bridges, including the land-connecting bridges and the island-connecting bridges, the main means of for all of these islands had been by way of ship. However, at present, all of the transportation travel commutes use automobiles. The small islands of the archipelago in the Seto Inland Sea have long relied on has been the traditional, marine industries that the islands can manage and operate, however these have been becoming extinct along with the related culture.

Prior to the construction of the big bridge , the things that could be solved between the islands in the Seto Inland Sea, by themselves, could be self-provided by, and could be shared among, the islands, including, for example, the supplies of the agricultural and fisheries products and the food materials. However, ever since the construction of this big bridge , the small-sized stores, restaurants, and bed and breakfasts within the islands were closed. The shopping issues that challenged the island residents have been solved in Kure City , which is a large city that is nearby. Although there have been temporary effects regarding the emergency medical service for the island residents, the sales of the products of the islands, and the increase of the tourists, not only has there been a population decrease, there has also been the move to the cities by the young bracket, the destruction of the communities, the decrease of the identities of the islands and also, the commerce of the islands, themselves has been becoming reduced. The situation is such that there are no uses of ships, the space, the time, and the platform for the exchanges that traditionally occurred between the residents have since disappeared. One local tourism commentator voiced that although the number of the tourists had increased (Shimokamagari) , it was not to the extent of developing into the tourism industry. There was success in publicizing the formerly uninhabited islands in the Seto Inland Sea, to the whole country, the part that has been missed by the tourists have missed having access to things to see, places for eating, and places for resting once they have arrived. Additionally, transferring administration districts from the islands that are different from each other into one administrative district, as occurred with one administrative district being transferred into Kure City, as an administrative-convenient judgment, poses problems.

Historically and traditionally, the islands in the Seto Inland Sea have possessed their respective, individual self-government, cultural areas, and sphere of influence. Even if there is a modern, administrative integration, there is nearly no cooperation among the island residents. Making an island residents consultative body is a very difficult thing. In Kure City, a tourism consultative body called the ‘Akinada Tobishima Sea Road’ (http://akinada4island.blog86fc2.com/) was created by gathering the seven islands in the Seto Inland Sea which are connected by the land-connecting bridges and the island-connecting bridges. However, this was formed according to the administration of Kure City. In reality there has been very little actual cooperation among the island residents. Although the Save the Islands Movement has been unfolded by the islands, themselves, a lot of the difficulties have occurred including but not limited to: the insufficiency of the resources, the insufficiency of network, the insufficiency of awareness, have been experienced.

4.2.3 The Administrative Opinion

By visiting The Center for Research and Promotion of Japanese Center, the present situation of the islands of Japan as well as the present situation of the pursuit regarding the land-connecting bridges was discussed. It is the opinion of the experts and the administrators that, before the construction of a land-connecting bridge or an island-connecting bridge, the residents must thoroughly consider and understand clearly the problems brought forth both before and after the construction of the bridge and that the feasibility must be understood well. Once an island is connected by a bridge, the special characteristic of being an island disappears. In Japan, the island-developing funds are provided according to The Ritou Promotion Act. Once a bridge is connected, this fund is then severed. As a result, before the construction of a land-connecting bridge, raising the island’s capability to become independent on the part of the island, itself, is very important. The land-connection projects and the island-connecting road projects have been becoming greatly reduced starting in the 1980s. Of course, although there have been some places that have been under construction presently, this has not reached the level of the 1980s and the 1990s. The awareness about the land-connecting bridges, the island-connecting bridges, and the awareness about the islands themselves has changed a lot. The result of the economic feasibility aspect situation is considered to be the highest outcome aspect.

5 Conclusion

Recently, we can see the reality in which the identities of the islands have been disappearing with the islands becoming land-connected with the bridges. Although, to the island residents, the land-connecting bridges that connect the islands with the lands can be a lifelong wish, along with the bridges getting connected is the financial support by the government being cut off and with foreign factors like invasive arriving and transported in, the exclusiveness and the specialness that the islands originally possessed, have been changing. This situation is one which has been prominently appearing in Korea, too, together with the socioeconomic phenomenon with the reduction of the overall populations of the islands and the aging of the populations of the islands. In Japan in the 1970s and the 1980s, the construction of the land-connecting bridges between the main islands and the surrounding islands had been hurried in accordance to the economic revival stance at the time. By installing the island-connecting bridges between the islands, the convenience of the island residents had been increased. Presently, after 30 years, it is evident that the populations of the islands have become rapidly became reduced. The industry has also been showing the result of deteriorating. Through exploration, it was intended to try projecting the situations Japanese islands experienced onto the islands of Korea at present.

Through the coverage and the investigations of the islands and bridges in the Seto Inland Sea, we must worry about the vision for the archipelago of Korea by fitting it to the global paradigm of the twenty-first century. An island is an island. It is judged that, with the residents of the islands, which have already been connected with the bridges, in the Seto Inland Sea benchmarking the efforts at making the island become independent, internationalized, and networked, now has become a time for re-examining, in depth, the overall matters related to the islands and the bridges.