Okunoshima (大久野島)

I don't know if any of you have read Watership Down by Richard Adams (like I have, *sniff sniff*), but it's a great novel about a bunch of anthropomorphized rabbits who escape their home (which is in the process of being destroyed by mankind, how rude) to a new home. People, I've found that place and its name is Okunoshima -- if you want to get real literal it's Usagi Jima, or "Rabbit Island."

Please see the below videos as proof:

Yes, you just witnessed a woman caught in the middle of a dangerous stampede of cuteness and a man being engulfed by rabbits. Yes. Just let that sink in there for a moment. It's okay, I'll give you some time.

You back? Okay. I hope you can understand my immediate desire to visit an island where I could potentially be covered head to toe in rabbits. I'm not sure why I had become so obsessed with being overrun with rabbits since I've never really had a particular fondness for them, but mine is not to question why. To quote a passage from Watership Down:

"A thing can be true and still be desperate folly, Hazel."

Okunoshima is a small island located just north of Hiroshima, and despite its penchant for housing hundreds of adorable rabbits it actually has quite a dark history. You see, it used to be where the Japanese stored and produced chemical weapons (primarily mustard gas) during World War II. To hide its presence, Japanese officials wiped its existence off all Japanese maps and the people who worked there (mostly Korean forced laborers) often died due to exposure to the toxic fumes and harsh working conditions. The remnants of those buildings can still be seen today, but in popular Japanese fashion they've managed to downplay that part and up-play the rabbits!

How did so many feral rabbits get on this island, you ask? Two main theories abound:

1) They were released when the lab was destroyed after the war

2) They were released by visiting Japanese school children (why they would have bunnies to bring to a remote island, I'm not sure)

You're also not allowed to bring cats, dogs or even cars onto the island... the rabbits must survive! Choosing to focus on the positive of the Island, I made my way down to Tadanoumi Station from Tokyo, as images of thousands of rabbits attacking me with cuddles filled my mind. Never mind Tularemia ("Rabbit Fever"), I wanted to literally be overcome with rabbit love! Okay, maybe not literally. More of the figuratively kind.

Once at the station, I made a right to Tadanoumi Port and purchased one round trip ticket for approximately 620 yen. You can find the ferry schedule at this website: Ferry Schedule

A short fifteen minute ferry was all that was between me and my beloveds.

I made it to the port, took a picture of the sign...

... and hopped (ha, I crack myself up) on a free shuttle to the one and only hotel on the island. At the front desk I was able to purchase some rabbit food for 100 yen (I had neglected to bring carrots) and I made my way. It was rather late in the day and hot, so I thought maybe the relative apathy of those few rabbits I saw was due to that. Still hopeful and optimistic (ah, naiveté), I made my way along the trail.

I did run into quite a few rabbit warrens but they were mostly limited to five rabbits at a time. They were not particularly interested in my rabbit food but they also wouldn't say no to it. However, the rabbit stampede I had dreamed of never came to reality... I later read that winter was the best time to come because they're a little hungrier and less fed. Ah well.

I will use this time to start a new blogging idea of mine: the GoPro montage video. I know I'm behind the curve (cue the horrified gasps of 14 year old girls everywhere), and this video is literally and figuratively shaky at best, but you'll take what I give you and like it, damn it!

Yeah, clearly not the song I gave credit to in the video... I guess YouTube doesn't like it when you use copyrighted songs. They gave me a list of pre-approved songs and I chose from the list. I guess that'll do, Pig, that'll do.

 There were indecipherable signs about what to do with the rabbits. I guess they're not allowed to become vagabonds or smoke. Seems quite right if you ask me.

I found the mutant albino one!

I thought I'd get artsy fartsy and capture the juxtaposition of the rabbit with the old, abandoned poison gas factory but I think I missed that class.

Without the rabbit this time.

 Moments before the thing tore off my hand.

The abandoned, overrun poison gas storage facilities reminded me a lot of Iwo Jima. It's quite interesting to me how something so significant in Japan's history is essentially hidden.


What blog post about rabbits could be complete without the famous scene from Monty Python?! NONE. None post!!

To get there from Tokyo:
1) Take the Shinkansen to Fukuyama, then switch to the Shinkansen to Mihara Station
2) From Mihara Station, jump on the local to Tadanoumi Station
3) Take an immediate right and follow the road until you see a bridge, take a right on the road prior to the bridge. You'll see the Tadanoumi Port building. From there purchase a 620 yen ticket (blue button) for a round trip.

Give yourself about five hours transit time.