Bringing revolutionary change to isolated islands, straight from the Setouchi skies
There is a total of 727 islands of various sizes spread across the vast area of Setouchi, spanning 450km wide. 138 of these, composing 20% of the total number, are populated, accommodating a maximum of 140,000 people.
However, the smallest of these, with an area of no more than 0.4km2, accommodates one single family, and 49 other islands harbour a population under 100 each. As the population declines and gives way to an aging population, businesses also grow scarce, and hospitals and clinics are altogether non-existent. Delivery services such as post and newspapers are often compromised due to weather conditions, meaning that the use of charter crafts and private or fishing ships is vital. On the other hand, the costs deriving from freight traffic, as well as time limitations, present a large obstacle to what would otherwise be simple daily shopping.
While it is possible to ensure next-day delivery services in most areas in Japan, this hardly amounts to an acceptable counter-measure in this case. Having no choice but to rely on water-crafts when a sudden need for certain products or services arises is a detriment by itself – and try as they might, even people with long-time experience in devising ways to overcome the difficulties that come with living in small, isolated islands, that will not be enough in times of emergency or crisis.
It was looking at these circumstances that we though – there must be a practical way to overcome this. Initially, we looked into various possible solutions, such as unmanned cargo ships (UMV), cost reduction planning for bulk shopping, associated with the use of patrol boat-charters, and mobile sale units. During this research process, we heard the news about Amazon’s innovative service using drones (UAV) to deliver their customers’ purchases. We were convinced that this service would solve the problem once it was put into action; but we learnt soon enough that there would still likely be a long wait until that service could be brought to isolated islands. Deciding that it was then up to us to expand on this option for these remote locations, it was so that a group of friends with the same belief came together and thus started this project.
