The History of Bunny Island
In the Seto Inland Sea of Japan, lies a small island called Okunoshima , two miles off the coast of the Japanese city of Takehara, in Hiroshima Prefecture. These days, it is nicknamed Usagi Jima, which translates to Rabbit Island, home to hundreds of rabbits. Tourists can buy a mere bag of rabbit food to feed the rabbits. They will run in stampedes, hop on your lap, or climb on your arms. Strangely though, nobody really knows how the rabbits got to the island in the first place.
Okunoshima was a cultivated area until the Russo-Japanese War occurred. Forts were built to protect it as families lived there. Around 1929, the Imperial Japanese Army initiated a secret program to develop chemical weapons after conducting extensive research that the U.S and Europe were doing the same. Chemical munitions plants and toxic gas reactors were built to create a ton of gas poison. These gas poisons were used against Chinese soldiers and civilians in the 1930s and 40s during the war in China, killing approximately 80,000 people; because of this, the locals will sometimes call it “Poison Gas Island” and it was removed from Japanese map to keep the operation from being known to the public.
When World War II ended, the Japanese government had to dispose of the poison gases to prevent trouble from other countries. It’s rumored that rabbits were brought to the island as test subjects for the chemical weapons. Some people speculated that rabbits of today are descendants of these test rabbits, but experts have said that they were euthanized after operations shut down.
There is a rumor that a group of kids in 1971 released eight rabbits near Okunoshima. As Okunoshina was abandoned for decades, the chemical plant buildings deserted, no predators, and the fact that they are fast-breeding mammals, their population has grown rapidly. It gained popularity when bunny “stampede” videos released, shifting the composition of tourists from Japanese elderly people and local school children to a wider demographic.
A big influx of tourists can bring a wide array of problems for the rabbits. Rabbits, naturally herbivores, are known to munch on leaves, roots, wood, seeds with an occasional snack of dung. However, people perceive animals to eat carrots, lettuce, and cabbage, which is what the tourists bring to feed the rabbits when they visit. This diet poisons the rabbits because their digestive system is too sensitive to break down the vegetables, as such, it is preferred to give them high fiber foods.
Rabbits need to eat every day. With their current diet, rabbits feast ravenously one day and starve later in the week, depending on the weather and school schedules, which influences tourism. There, rabbits usually populate in the grass waiting to be fed and watered. The island rabbits have a two-year life expectancy while they could live up to 10 years if they were in a more typical domestic situation.
If you end up visiting Okunoshima, you will for sure end up falling in love with these creatures. You can access the BunnyLand from the Hiroshima Station (there are several local trains and a ferry that are available as well). Okunoshima is a difficult destination to reach but worthwhile to see the country’s picturesque coastline and its friendly bunnies.
Okunoshima has a beach, an onsen, a poison gas museum, campsites, and a hotel to have the best vacation ever along with rabbits. It’s best to practice safety rules: don’t run after bunnies or with them in your arms, as they can easily stress out; do not play with them in a public road to avoid traffic accidents, do not put your hands close to their mouths -they will bit you because of bad eyesight -, feed them with proper food, and of course, no dogs allowed.
