Photo/Illutration Takako Shibata, in traditional white bridal costume, takes a ferryboat from Okinoshima to Shodoshima island in 1994. (Provided by Takako Shibata)

TONOSHO, Kagawa Prefecture--For pure nostalgia, the popular song “Seto no Hanayome” (Bride of Seto) vividly captures the feelings of a young bride in her wedding dress taking a boat ride to her new island home.

The lyrics evoke a longing for a side of old Japan that is fast disappearing in the modern age.

With plans afoot to connect tiny Okinoshima island here by bridge with nearby Shodoshima, the second-largest island in the Seto Inland Sea, the view reminiscent of the one featured in the 1972 song will soon be lost for good.

Okinoshima's 66 residents are mainly elderly individuals, and their primary access to Shodoshima, just 120 meters away, is a three-minute boat ride. The service can carry up to 10 passengers at a time and is free of charge.

The ferry schedule offers only one or two round trips an hour, but residents can ask the boatman for a ride whenever they like.

Hiroyuki Shimamoto, 69, serves as skipper primarily on weekdays, and Tsuneo Kawafuji, 71, handles weekends. They say 40 or so islanders and sightseers use the service on a daily basis.

“We have a pretty good idea about how residents go about their lives, for example, when they have gone shopping (to Shodoshima)," Shimamoto said.

In bygone days, the sight of brides riding boats in traditional wedding attire was common around Okinoshima.

The song is so famous that town authorities in Tonosho and Kagawa Prefecture itself tout the area as boasting “the same view as that in the song” on their websites.

The ferry service is due to be terminated, as plans are progressing to build a bridge by fiscal 2022 at a cost of 1.1 billion yen ($10.12 million). Two-thirds of the funding will be covered by the central government.

Barges have been sent by the municipality to survey the geological terrain in waters around the ferryboat route.

“The island now is only accessible by boat, so ambulances or fire trucks cannot reach there,” said Tonosho Mayor Kunihiko Saegusa, 61, stressing the importance of a bridge. “Lives could have been rescued in past instances if there had been a bridge.”

Saegusa said funds currently devoted to boat operations will be diverted to help cover the bridge construction costs.

Noriko Shimamoto is one local resident who welcomed the decision, as her father-in-law died of myocardial infarction 10 years ago.

She recalled he had to be taken by stretcher on a boat to be transferred to a waiting ambulance across from the islet. It took a valuable 40 minutes to get him to a hospital.

“I am glad to see the bridge being built,” said Shimamoto, 59.

Naturally, others like Takako Shibata, 46, hope the ferry service will be continued.

Shibata's family home is on Okinoshima, although she lives on Shodoshima, having traveled in a white kimono in 1994 following her marriage. She has fond memories of taking a boat to school and skippers working even on rainy days.

“The quiet life on the island may change,” Shibata said, expressing her reservations about the town’s plan to set up an observatory for tourists on Okinoshima after the bridge is built.

Skipper Shimamoto admitted to having “mixed feelings” about the project.

“A bridge is essential for islanders, but I still want sightseers to enjoy the boat ride,” said Shimamoto, adding that his daughter was the last bride carried in a wedding dress on the ferry in 1996.