Ai Nishimura
Administrator of the blog "My Diary," which began in 2004. A writer who has traveled to all 47 prefectures and loves local culture and history.
Author of Shimane's "Geography, Place Names, and Maps" Mysteries (Jitsugyo no Nihonsha), My Town is the "Number One in Japan" Dictionary (PHP Institute), and Prefectures Explained in Neko Neko Japanese History (Jitsugyo no Nihonsha). Official blogger for Suntory Gourmet Guide, official top user for Retty, and official platinum blogger for Excite.
A 10-minute boat ride from Tadanoumi Port in Takehara City takes you to "Okunoshima." This island was a fortress island that protected the Seto Inland Sea during the war, and many facilities built afterwards as a poison gas production base remain as war heritage. Today, the island is famous nationwide as "Rabbit Island," and attracts tourists from both Japan and abroad.
From Takehara Station, head to Okunoshima via Tadanoumi Station! An island rich in nature where you will be welcomed by many rabbits.
After visiting the Takehara Town Preservation District, we headed to Takehara Station. It took about 15 minutes to reach Tadanoumi Station. A few more minutes' walk towards the sea was Tadanoumi Port.
From here we will cross over to Okunoshima!
When you arrive at the port, first purchase your round-trip ferry ticket at the shop with the straightforward name "Gateway to Rabbit Island." In addition, if you want to feed the rabbits on the island and become popular, you can buy food here. There is no place to buy food on the island. You can also buy rabbit-related goods and souvenirs in the shop.
When you arrive on the island, first board the free shuttle bus to "Kyukamura Okunoshima." The island is 4.3 kilometers in circumference, and it is possible to walk around it, but there are ups and downs.
I decided to rent an electric bicycle at the holiday village and ride around the island.
Okunoshima is just a 10-minute ferry ride from the port.
After the heavy rain, the Setouchi Inland Sea was enveloped in a thick fog... I hesitated for a moment to go to the island, but I thought, "Let's go first!"
The ferry to Okunoshima departs from Tadanoumi Port. The closest station to this port is Tadanoumi Station. It is about a 5-minute walk from the station to the port.
At Tadanoumi Port, your first stop is to purchase your round-trip ferry ticket.
Rabbit food is not sold on the island, so if you want some, buy it here before boarding the boat.
The bean snacks were packaged in rabbit packaging and were a convenient size. Then we boarded the ship. The weather was starting to clear up a bit.
And then we boarded the ship. The weather started to clear up a little.
First, we boarded the free bus for "Kyukamura Okunoshima" waiting at the island's port and headed to the Kyukamura. At the Kyukamura, we rented bicycles. Our companion for the day was an electric bicycle that could be rented for 800 yen for two hours. With this, we could easily explore the island.
There were seven at first? Now there are 1,000 rabbits living leisurely in the wild.
When we arrived at Okunoshima and disembarked at the port, we were already met with a horde of rabbits swarming about.
The rabbits know this very well and will come right up to you. Even when you're cycling around the island, once you get off the bike the rabbits will come running up to you from the grass, aiming for your feet. They're so used to it, it's cute. However, if they realize that you don't have any food, they'll sulk and run off somewhere... they can be very greedy.
These rabbits were originally kept at Tadanoumi Elementary School on the opposite shore, but were released onto the island because their numbers had become too large. There were only seven of them.
The number of rabbits has increased and now exceeds 1,000, which is amazing. However, it seems that some were brought in later, and there are many different kinds of rabbits (more than seven kinds) hopping around.
Rabbit Collection
Okunoshima is also known as "Rabbit Island."
According to sources, there are 700 birds living in the wild, but when we spoke to someone, we were told that the number is already around 1,000.
These rabbits first came to be on the island when seven rabbits, which had become too numerous at a primary school in Tadanoumi across the river, were released onto the island.
When you park your bike, you can't go any further because so many rabbits gather around. They are friendly and cute.
The rabbits live robustly in nature, running around in the mountains. There are a few rules to keep in mind, such as not putting your hands around their mouths, not holding them, and not feeding them on the road, so please follow these rules and have fun interacting with the rabbits.
Tour the remains of Okunoshima, an island that was used as a military base during the war.
There are many ruins of war heritage on Okunoshima. These include the remains of a battery that was used as a fortress to protect the Seto Inland Sea during the Sino-Japanese and Russo-Japanese wars in the Meiji era, and a facility related to "poison gas refining" that was used as military land from the Showa era onwards. During this period, Okunoshima was an island that was erased from maps until the end of the war.
The poison gas factory was completed in 1929. Full-scale production began four years later, and mass production continued as the facility was expanded. Despite calls for a global ban on poison gas weapons, Japan continued to manufacture them until 1944.
When you look around the facility, you can see how big the tanks were. At the Poison Gas Museum, you can learn about the hardships faced by the people who were making poison gas without even being told what they were making, and the health hazards that continued to occur after production had ceased due to the poison gas that remained on the island.
The facilities that tell the sad story of the Seto Inland Sea still stand today, lying in the midst of lush nature, like stakes that remind us of those times.
We will tour the war ruins that are quietly left behind in the natural surroundings of Okunoshima.
Starting at Kyukamura Okunoshima, you will cycle clockwise along the seaside road.
First, we arrived at the poison gas storage facility. Okunoshima was a military island where poison gas was manufactured and stored.
The remains of a Japanese garden buried under sand and dirt. If you look closely, you can see a Meganebashi-style arch. What on earth did it look like?
The remains of the Nagaura poison gas storage facility. It is the largest storage facility on the island.
On this island, yperite gas and lewisite gas, which are horrible poisonous gases that can cause skin rashes just by touching them, were produced. However, the remains that remain on this quiet small island in the Seto Inland Sea show no trace of this, and are in harmony with nature.
It is completely abandoned and entry is prohibited.
Some buildings remain like this, while others were destroyed by the Imperial Japanese Army after the war to hide their remains. Along the way, we came across some things that were definitely man-made but we didn't know what they were.
Research institute ruins.
Remains of a battery. Apart from its history as a poison gas production base, this island also served as a fortress during the Sino-Japanese and Russo-Japanese wars.
On this day, it was not possible to visit the battery in the mountains. On Okunoshima, there are three batteries in the north, east, and south, surrounding the remains of the central battery at the top of the island, with batteries erected in almost all directions.
Okunoshima is a place of tranquil scenery, but it is also a place where you can feel the history of the past and the pain of war. The fact that the island is well preserved and in good condition makes the reality of the war very clear.
You can see these in detail at the Okunoshima Poison Gas Museum, where materials are compiled on what the island was like at the time.
We stayed on the island for about two and a half hours. The island is only 4.3km in circumference, so it was enough time. There are ups and downs on the mountain road along the way, so please be careful when cycling. By the way, cars are not allowed on the island. You can get around on foot. And then we said goodbye to Okunoshima. It rained in some places along the way, but we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.
Read the second part here
The contents published are accurate at the time of publication and are subject to change.
