Abolition of Kure-Matsuyama ferry line was decided.

Major newspapers reported yesterday that the formal decision was made to discontinue the Kure-Matsuyama ferry line. The line will be unavailable from July 1st 2009. The reduction in ETC’s fare since this spring seemed to accelerate the deteriorating financial condition, which had already been caused by the opening of Shimanami expressway in 1999 and price hike of oil in 2008. This ferry line was started in 1964. If other remaining ferry lines continue to vanish one after another in the days ahead, it may surely lead to undermining the valuable image of this area formed over long period of time. If the ferry services were lost completely, this area would lose one of the unique appealing images.

Carriage of bicycles on this ferry is allowed by paying an additional charge. An additional charge of 600 yen per a bicycle is required.

Hostel Referrals through a newly published book.

This book introduces 250 unique hostels to such a reader as is interested in going one’s own trips. Three hostels located on the Inland Sea islands are also included in 250 hostels. After flipping through the pages, I notice the difference of activeness between every region in Japan. Several articles on Hostels located at Highlands in Central Japan attract me in particular. I think that new segment of tourism will be born there and become popular in future. Though such styles as Central Highlands may not apply directly to the Inland Sea islands, we can learn something from their cases. Written in Japanese. In the article of each hostel, there is a WEB address of the hostel on the pages. 1,429Yen.