Okunoshima Island

Okunoshima

Okunoshima is one of the islands in the Geiyo Islands of Japan's Inland Sea, located about 3 kilometers off the coast of Tomocho, Takehara City, Hiroshima Prefecture, with a coastline stretching 4.3 kilometers. This small island was used as a chemical weapons production site during wartime, earning it the nickname "Poison Gas Island." Furthermore, it is now also known as "Rabbit Island" due to the many rabbits that live there.

Okunoshima is famous for its poison gas and rabbits. At the end of the Pacific War, 3,270 tons of poison gas were left behind on the island. After the war, the Allied Forces' General Headquarters in Japan and the Japanese government dismantled the poison gas production facilities and destroyed the remaining weapons, but they were unable to completely clean up all the munitions. To this day, the soil 4–5 meters underground on the island still contains high concentrations of the toxic substance arsenic. After the war ended, Okunoshima remained uninhabited for a long time. The rabbits used for experiments at the research facility, along with the production site, were abandoned and thrived in the warm environment with no natural predators, becoming the island’s sole inhabitants. Later, the opening of the National Rest Village and the Okunoshima Poison Gas Museum made the rabbits one of the island’s main features.

Today, around 300 rabbits live on Okunoshima, and approximately 100,000 tourists visit this “rabbit paradise” every year. To protect the island’s rabbits, dogs are prohibited except for assistance dogs.

Ōkunoshima

Must-visit reason: Japan’s most famous “Rabbit Island”

Continent where the attraction is located: Asia【Asia】

Country/Region where the attraction is located: Japan[Japan]

Province/State where the attraction is located: Hiroshima Prefecture [Hiroshima Prefecture]

City where the attraction is located: Takehara City [Takehara]