Ōkunoshima island was the site of Japan's secret chemical-weapons production factory during World War II.
During the war, the island factory produced more than 6 kilotons of poison gases which were tested on rabbits.
Today, the island has been reborn as a tourist attraction and is called "Us agi Jima" or "Rabbit Island," thanks to its population of wild rabbits.
In 2013, Stephanie Broekarts, a 25-year-old environmental-social sciences student at Kyoto University traveled to "Rabbit Island."
"I was couch surfing with a local girl and she showed me pictures of her visit to Ōkunoshima and I was instantly sold. I've always been a big animal fan, bunnies in particular, so something nicknamed 'the bunny island' was something I couldn't skip," Broekarts wrote.
Below are some pictures Broekarts shared with us from her trip to Rabbit Island.
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The small island of Ōkunoshima is located in the Seto Inland Sea in the Hiroshima Prefecture. The island lies about 2 miles from the mainland and the distance was considered far enough so that if an accident were to occur at the poison gas facility it would not impact urban centers.
Broekarts said she took a train to Hiro station and then transferred trains to Tadanoumi station. The trip took almost 2 hours and cost around 1,240 Japanese Yen or $12. She then took an hourly ferry from Tadanoumi which brought her to Rabbit Island in about 10 minutes.
The coastline of Rabbit Island is only 1.5 miles long. Here is a picture of the rabbit ear-shaped viewers that line the edge of the coast.
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