Everyone gets off the ferry and we’re rushed by a bunch of adorable bunnies. “So CUTE!” But instead of getting smitten by the first bunnies we find we meander over to the main tourism building to get an overview of the island. Ok, it’s not too big and we have lots of time. To feed bunnies!
“We should turn Catalina into a rabbit island”, “Catalina is already a buffalo island. We need our own island. Maybe one in Saint Margaret’s Bay near Peggy’s cove”, “What’s different in Nova Scotian we could do. Beaver island? Caribou island?”, “We could smuggle 2 tanuki and start an exotic tanuki island!”, “Ohhh Tanuki!”
Bunny selfie time! This bunny took a sip of my beer
The island is stunning.
They have some highly advanced rabbit ear technology that lets you listen to the waves lapping on the beach.
So Okunoshima was a secret island purposely kept off of maps to produce poison gas in World War II. We take a break from petting cute bunnies to go into the Poison Gas Museum. It’s hard to look at the pics in here. Nasty. Dead kids. Bubbling skin. Difficult to believe this peaceful island was once used for that.
Crazy. So of course when the allies came and forced the disposal of the gas and clean up of the island, all of the test subjects were released to the wild. Then they bred, like rabbits.
Ok that was nasty, I think I need some more bunny time now.
Signs around the island describe the different poisons they were crafting and the remains of empty sotrehouses are scattered around it.
We walk away from the museum up a path by the water. We come across a creepy empty tennis court. Looks post apocalyptic. Just needs zombies
Ohhh but here’s another cute bunny!
…and then more poison gas remnants.
What else can we do? Go see some cannons. Or at least where they once were.
This is an overgrown empty barracks tunneled underground in case the island got shelled.
We follow a narrow road up the hill. Not sure where else to go. I spot an overgrown path heading back towards the center of the island. There’s probably something at the top of the hill, right? Let’s try it.
You coming?
Hmmmmm.. we’ve come up a ways now. Keep going? There are big poops along this path. Whatever is dropping those doesn’t seem to fit on this island. Maybe it’s some poison monster stuck here since the war that feeds on bunnies after dark.
We’re lost
A little ways up things look a little more kept. Oh there’s a sign!
Only 280 meters to.. something.
The path opens up onto a plateau with some signage, a large map and some astrological device. There’s also a great panorama of Okunoshima and the surrounding islands. What an awesome secret path. I think it was actually a short cut.
Putting bunnies on the map!
How does this thing work?
Great view up here. Can’t believe we’re the only ones here.
We take a break and feed some more bunnies. This family mart value pack is going the distance.
Well the sun is going down and that sign over there says it’s almost a kilometer back to.. something. We should probably get off this hill before dark.
We hear a bunch of rustling in the bushes. “Shit, what the hell is that?” it sounds big. We get on our guard for whatever monster is rushing us from the woods while we’re separated away from everyone else on the island. It’s a frantic twig breaking menace steamrolling the brush towards us like the giant rolling ball trap from Indiana Jones.
Oh no, it’s just this little white rabbit. How’d you make so much noise lil guy. You want some nummies? Nuuuummmm cabbage num num numz
We find another unmarked poison gas storehouse. Probably the biggest one we’ve seen today.
We get back to the main drag by the water with time and cabbage to spare.
Nice sunset happening. We should get some bunnies in front of it.
Wow, this cloud starts breaking apart at sunset and it looks like a phoenix soaring over the island.
Back to the museum area and we still have lots of rabbit treats for these cuties.
Bikes would have been fun to bring over. Some people brought camping gear to stay the night. Backpack camping across Japan… that sounds like a good trip
We hit a record 9 bunnies in a single snack feast right before the sun goes down
The lights on the island come on casting a warm glow on the water from the piers.
We go back to the dock where the ferry dropped us off. Looks like we still have time. We go passed and find an abandoned power plant on the other side. With the sun down it gets extra creepy.
Pretty sure this is the building they filmed the last scene of The Blair Witch Project in.
Zombunny Island!
There is no one around. I really hope we didn’t miss the last boat back. Not much to do here in the dark, we could have probably gotten outta here earlier. We have 35 minutes to kill I think we can make it. Wait a sec, there’s a bunch of people waiting on a bench over here. Are there two piers? Check my pic of the schedule. Oh shit the 615 leaves from pier 1 right here. Damn, glad I checked and we didn’t walk all the way back to the power plant.
We leave the pier 2 minutes late. A couple come running down to the dock out of breath. They were probably waiting at the other pier and the shuttle bus guy told them to come here. Ha, that was almost us.
Sayonara Poison Bunny Island!
