What's The Rabbits Island
I visited Okuno island, known as a rabbit island, on my way home from Tokuyama,Yamaguchi.
I got off the train at Tadami station on Kure line to visit the island. It located in Takehara city.
The conductor announced "If you go to the rabbit island, get off here". In fact, many passenger got off the train.
It took about five minutes by foot from the station to the pier.
The ticket office was also a souvenir shop. I bought a ferryboat ticket.
The ticket fort the round trip to rabbit island was 620 yen. it was quite reasonable. there were another line bound for Sakari in Omi island.
The ferry boat was full of passengers. Some of them are young giirls ,others were families. I guessed they would see rabbits definitely.
This showed hoe to handle rabbits. Rabbits are really sensitive animals.
Okuno island appeared on the right side.
The boat reached the island. It took 15 minutes from mainland,Honshu.
As soon as I got off the boat、I could see many rabbits around the port.
Everybody took photographs of cute rabbits.Especially they were very popular among kids
It was very cold today. They looked cold.
There were many rabbits on the eastern side of the island , but other than that, there were about 700 birds throughout the island. I felt that there were more.
There were rabbit water and food plates all over the island, and it seemed like they were having a good time eating. rabbits contributes to local tourism so much.
There is no private house other than the national vacation village, which is an accommodation facility, in the southwestern part of the island.
The rabbits here are used to humans and will soon come by. Cute guys. However, if they find out that you don't have food, they will soon go somewhere.
Many tourists brought food for rabbits, for examples carrots and cabbage. There was also a family who brought a bag full of cut carrots cut. If you visit here, I would recommend you to bring food for rabbits.
War Ruins
Okunoshima is not only a rabbit island, but also an island of war ruins. There was a poison gas factory of the Japanese army during the war. It seems that the island was erased from the map in the early Showa period from the viewpoint of confidentiality.
Okunoshima is a small island that can be walked in a little over an hour. During my stay for about two hours, I walked around the ruins.
This is the site of a power plant near the pier. A power plant made electricity for producing poisonous gas.
It has been more than 70 years since the plant was abandoned. There is a risk of collapse, so please do not enter inside.
This is the northern turret site on the north side of the island. It seems that a battery was installed in the Meiji era to prevent European countries from invading the Keihanshin region from the Seto Inland Sea.
I wonder if it's true in the modern era of airplanes, but at that time the attack by warships was an immediate threat. Especially during the Russia-Japan War, many cannons were installed.
There were few tourists here.
t seems that this building was a storage of poison gas. With the end of World War II, poisonous gas seems to have been incinerated at this place, and the trace of flame radiation at that time remains black on the wall. The inside is also off-limits.
This is the abandoned toilets for the workers at the time. You can see what looks like a toilet bowl.
This is the site of the research institute at that time. Is it true that the rabbits on the island were brought in for experiments in the development of poisoning gas during the war, but escaped after the war and naturally propagated and increased?
There is also a poison gas museum, however it was closed on that day. The admission fee was 100 yen. I wanted to see inside.
Highest Power Transmission Tower
Also, what I personally noticed on Okunoshima is the huge power transmission tower towering in the center of the island. From here, the power transmission line crosses the sea all at once to Takehara City on the mainland.
The details will be quoted from Kokumin-Kyukamura's blog.
There is a big steel tower on Okuno island. As you can see from the ship, it doesn't feel as big as the one in the photo, but this is a tower with a height of 226m!
Built in 1958, this steel tower is the highest power tower in Japan, supporting the power lines between the mainland and Ohkuno island(2,357m) and between Ohkuno island and Omishima (1,423m)!
It seems that this height is necessary to keep the height (42m) from the sea level so that a large ship can pass through.
Since the weight of one transmission line exceeds 10 tons, it seems that development and research were conducted at various places for this tower. I am surprised at the weight of the power transmission line, but the steel tower on Okuno island that supports this is 937t! ! I can't really feel it!
he same goes for the huge wire that suspends the bridge girder of the Akashi Kaikyo Bridge that connects Kobe and Awaji Island, but how do you set up a long power line at such a high place? Do you use a huge winch? How do you replace the power lines? I'm curious.
Just south of Okuno island is Omi island on the Shimanami Way.
The return ferry has arrived. It seems that many people are landing on the island.
The end
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