Travel Highlights & Tips - Okunoshima: A Real Rabbit Wonderland

Okunoshima, well known as "Usagijima", is literally a rabbit wonderland. Usagi means rabbit and jima (shima) means island in Japanese. The island is located off the coast of Mihara in Hiroshima Prefecture, which is western part of Honshu main island and can be accessed by scheduled ferry. Okunoshima is just a small island with scenic beauty of Setonaikai Inland Sea unless two remarkable facts.

The first one, needless to say, is rabbit. There are about thousand rabbits living in the whole island and they are so friendly that they run to tourists getting off the ferry and beg for food. Since the rabbits are everywhere in the island, you shouldn't spend much of your time near the port as many visitors do.

The second fact, I'm not sure if the tourists especially from overseas notice about, is that the island has a dark history. If you walk around the island, you can see several remains from WW2. The island used to be a base of the Japanese Imperial Army and there secretly produced poisonous gas. There is also a small historical museum telling the fact quietly.

Remains of Power Plant

[Travel tips]

• Don't forget to buy some vegetables before taking ferry.

The rabbits are waiting for your feeding. You can buy a small portion of rabbit food in the island, but I highly recommend to stop by at a supermarket or a convenience store to get some cabbage and carrots, before taking ferry. Supermarket "Mommy" is just about a couple minutes' walk from Tadanoumi Port.

• Secure your time to climb to the observatory deck.

Most visitors spend time around the port or the large field area in front of Kyukamura Okunoshima (hotel). But it is very much worth visiting the observatory deck which is on the hill in the middle of the island. Along the trail you can feel history from the historical remains from WW2, enjoy the stunning view of beautiful islands and calm sea, and witness more lovely and modest rabbits. 

• Avoid visiting on weekends if possible.

Okunoshima and the surrounding area is quite local. However the island is now a popular tourist destination, so you are advised to travel on weekdays. There are quite a lot of Japanese visitors as well as tourists from overseas and ferry can get full on weekends or holiday seasons. The ferry do not take prior reservations so you will need to wait another 1 hour or so if the ferry is full.

• Plan to visit the island in the morning.

As mentioned above, there is a possibility that the ferries get full. So it is safer to visit the port in the morning. In most case visitors get ferry from Tadanoumi Port and it takes just about 15 minutes to the island. You can see the ferry timetable here.

[Other must-visits around the area]

• Takehara

[Useful links]

• General Information of Okunoshima
• Okunoshima Map

[Contact & More]

• Travel Advice & Inquiries
• More Photos on Tumblr