Just off the coast of Takehara, about a 15-minute ferry ride from Tadanoumi Port, there’s a small island in the Seto Inland Sea.

The island is called Okunoshima.

Stepping off the ferry, it feels peaceful, and deeply quiet.
Quiet paths around the circumference of the island, the soft sea air, and the lapping of the waves against the shore, never far away.

But what makes this place truly unusual is that you’re never really alone.

Rabbits appear everywhere.

They gather along the paths, rest in the grass, and wander freely across the island, completely at ease in their surroundings. And completely eager to come running at the merest hint of food.

There’s something strangely calming about watching them go about their lives, unbothered by the humans around them.

And yet, beneath that calm surface, the island of Okunoshima hides a very different past.

During World War II, Okunoshima was a site of poison gas production. With access restricted to military personnel only, for a time, the whole island disappeared from maps, such was the top-secret nature of what was being done there.

After Japan’s defeat in 1945, the toxic materials were buried or removed, and the facilities destroyed or dismantled. Even so, the island was dangerous and largely avoided. Access was extremely limited and not encouraged.

It wasn’t until the 1960s that the island was redeveloped, and became the site of a kyukamura (休暇村), a national holiday resort facility. And now, with the cuteness factor of hordes of rabbits running wild, the island is perhaps the most popular destination in this part of Hiroshima Prefecture.

Some people say the rabbits are descended from those used during the island’s poison gas production period in World War II. However, there’s no strong evidence for this, and more widely accepted is the theory that in the 1970s, a group of schoolchildren released a handful of rabbits onto the island after using them for science experiments. With no natural predators, a mild climate, and plenty of vegetation, the rabbit population grew rapidly.

The island is commonly known by the epithet ‘Rabbit Island’ these days, but nevertheless, parts of its darker history, the history of its role in World War II, still remain. Quiet ruins, scattered across the island, almost hidden among the trees. If you look closely, the island hasn’t forgotten its past.

Close to the port, the power plant ruins are one of the more recognizable structures on the island. They are the remains of a brick power station that supplied electricity to the other facilities. These industrial remains in a quiet natural setting provide a striking visual contrast.

And, now mostly overgrown, nothing more than crumbling concrete walls and the outlines of buildings, there are the poison gas production facilities, and other laboratory and storage buildings. It is sobering to think that here, in such a beautiful location, toxic gases like mustard gas were produced.

Also, around the island from the port, are the gun batteries, defensive positions built to protect the island. These concrete emplacements, facing the sea, are a reminder that the island was a military site, not just an industrial one.

Still, today the island is tranquil, serene, idyllic. Wartime workers have been replaced by holidaymakers and daytrippers. The remnants of the island’s dark wartime history only serve to emphasise its current calm peacefulness.

So, rabbits and ruins: Okunoshima is a place where two very different worlds exist side by side. A peaceful island filled with life, and the memory of something much darker.

Strolling around the island, with the sound of the sea, the multitude of rabbits, the softness of the light, and the quiet weight of history, never too far away, you can’t help but feel that contrast.

Okunoshima isn’t just a place for a short visit.

It’s a place for quiet contemplation.