Oh! Blog.: Bunnies: Now With Added Poisonous Gases!!

Last Saturday, Rich and I took a trip to Okunoshima, a small island in the Inland Sea, in Hiroshima-ken. This charming little island's attractions are three-fold: mobs of friendly, adorable bunnies; some crumbling ruins; and a poison gas museum.
That's right, a posion gas museum.
See, during the war, Okunoshima housed facilities for producing various poisonous gases to be used in combat; hence the museum. The ruins are those of storage rooms, a power plant, and other bits and bobs associated with those gases. And the bunnies? Well, they fullfilled their fourth most-popular occupation (behind being adorable pets, ravaging the flora and fauna of Australia, and being eaten) by being test subjects for said poison gases. It all makes for a delightfully strange environment.

On arrival at the island, one disembarks from the dinky little ferry, and is immediately greeted by a dozen or so perfect bunnies, who happily trot towards the newly-arrived humans in the hope of a few pieces of lettuce or carrot. Of course, these lovely lagomorphs are only here because of their ancestry as test subjects for weapons of war, so it's... kinda weird, I suppose. We were also not expecting to see so many bunnies just hopping around on their own; being Japan, I at least expected a designated bunny-viewing area, vending machines of bunny food, and muzak piped through the island's woods. Similarly, I expected the ruins of the gas-making-facilities to be propped up with boardwalks, guided tours conducted by flag-wielding air hostesses, and perhaps a purikura booth or two. But no; shockingly, the remains of the facilities have remained completely untouched - abandoned in the 1940s and left to crumble on their own. As such, they're great to explore, covered in vines, cobwebs, and dark corners. The only restriction is a strong advisory to not actually wander inside the ruins of the power plant, just in case it, you know, collapses on your head or something.