I can't believe I lived in Japan almost five years before someone let me know about the magical place that is Rabbit Island. I hate almost everything, but one thing in this world I really like is bunnies. I google pictures of baby bunnies before bed. I'm a crazy lady.
My mom is also a crazy bunny lady. So when she came to visit this summer I knew we'd have to take a trip to Okunoshima. It's only a two hour local train ride from Hiroshima.
How To Get There
From Mihara station (a Shinkansen stop) take the Kure line to Tadanoumi. Tadanoumi is a tiny station in a tiny town, no restaurants or 7-11s nearby. After you arrive you make your way to the ferry port on the opposite side of the station exit. At this point no signs are in English but if you figure that a ferry needs to be in the water I think you can figure it out.
At the ferry port a nice lady pointed to the ¥600 roundtrip button to buy a ticket from a vending machine. The ferry stops at two places and you want to get out at the first stop, 大久野島, a 12 minute ride.
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| Chillin' on the beach |
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| He made a little house. |
One The Island
Once we arrived we could already see bunnies hopping around the trees and welcome center. There was a bus waiting and everything in it was written in kanji. I could only make out the kanji for free 「無料」 and I convinced my mom to get on. The island isn't that big so how lost could we get?
The bus took us to the main hotel and onsen. Inside was a coffee and gift shop. Outside was tons of cute bunnies that run up to you and pyon pyon pyon all over the place.
Luckily my mom brought some veggies so we could feed them.
Why Are They There?
Oh, you know. Horrible WWII poison gas factory reasons. But they're all normal. Mom and I skipped the museum because we had already been to the A-Bomb one a few days before and why spoil the magic?
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| Feeding some buns. |
