How to get Rabbit island in Japan and Where to Stay

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Rabbit island in Japan  Source: Wikipedia
Rabbit island in Japan Source: Wikipedia

How to get Rabbit island in Japan and Where to Stay

Do you like cute animals? Looking for some unknown island full of cute animals in Japan?

if you already knew the cat islands( how to get cat islands and where to stay) and the shark island ( how to get shark island and where to stay), how about rabbit? 

 

In this article, we introduce you the island full of rabbit, how to get the island and where to stay. We updated on June, 2017 with all the useful information for you to travel to the rabbit island. New time tables and new ship line info from Mihara port.

 

<< If you are interested in learning about more interesting islands in Japan, you can check our comprehensive Japanese island list here. >>

The Rabbit Island

The type of rabbit on the island is mainly the very fluffy European rabbit (Ana-usagi in Japanese). Source: wikipedia
The type of rabbit on the island is mainly the very fluffy European rabbit (Ana-usagi in Japanese). Source: wikipedia

 The island is called Okunoshima island ( "大久野島" in Japanese). Okunoshima, 4km diameter, is located in Seto inland sea, 3km away from Takehara city, Hiroshima.

 

In 1971 a primary school outside of the island released 8 rabbits onto the island. The first 8 rabbits grew in the number over the years. Around 300 in 2007, and then 700 rabbits were recorded in the study in 2013. 

 

The type of rabbit on the island is mainly very fluffy one called European rabbit (Ana-usagi in Japanese).

 

More than 200,000 rabbit lovers visit the island every year. The statistics shows 136,000 visitors in 2005 and 254,000 visitors (in which 17,000 are from outside of Japan) in 2015.

 

To protect the rabbit, you are not allowed to bring any dog to the island except guiding dogs for the blind people.

 

Poison Gas Museum

Unlike other animal islands which are normal fishermen' villages, Okunoshima has an interesting history. 

 

In 1920s then-Japanese army established the chemical weapon(poison gas) factory on the island. Because it manufactured the chemical weapon which was prohibited under the international treaty, the existence of the island was deleted from the official map. You can visit the Poison Gas museum to learn more about it.

 

Details of The museum(price and opening hour)

Website

Opening hour: 09:00AM-16:30 (Closed on year end and beginning)

Entrance fee:

100JPY for adult 19 year old or older (80JPY if you are of group of 20 people or more)

50JPY for kid 18 year old or younger (40JPY if you are of group of 20 people or more)

Tel: +81 846 26 3036

How to get the island

The ship to take you to the rabbit island  Source: Omishima Ferry line
The ship to take you to the rabbit island Source: Omishima Ferry line

You can get the island by ship only

By ship

New ship line from April, 2017

From April, 2017 there is a new ship line from Mihara to Okuno island ON WEEKENDS AND NATIONAL HOLIDAYS. It is a 30 min trip. 13 mins from Mihara port to Sunami port, 17 mins from Sunami port to Okunoshima island.

To Okuno island Ship No.  To Mihara
Mihara Sunami Okuno island   Okuno island Sunami Mihara
09:30 09:43 10:00 1 10:05 10:21 10:35
11:00 11:13 11:30 2 11:35 11:51 12:05
13:00 13:13 13:30 3 13:50 14:06 14:20
14:40 14:53 15:10 4 15:20 15:36 15:50
16:00 16:13 16:30 5 16:50 17:06 17:20

Price

From - To One way Round trip
Mihara~Okuno isl Adult 1,500 2,400
Child 750 1,200
Sunami~Okuno isl Adult 1,000 1,600
Child 500 800

※All shown in JPY   Child means a primary school kid or younger

How to book the ship?

For the new line, you can book in a 1 month in advance. You can not book it on the day. You can get a ticket at the port of departure though, the person with the reservation have a priority to be on board.

1. you call  + 81 848 38 9030 ( 08:30AM - 17:00 )

 

2. you tell i. the date of departure, ii. which Ship. no, iii. which port to depart, iv. name of the passenger, v. number of the passenger, vi. your telephone number.

 

3. you get a reservation number. 

 

For details, you can check this website. (all in Japanese)

 

We can help you book the seats if you give us the following information (our service fee starts from 100EUR per hour ).

Ordinary way

Get Omishima Ferry from Tadanoumi port("忠海港" in Japanese) to get off at Okuno port ("大久野港" in Japanese) ( the ship further goes to Sakari port, Ehime ("盛港" in Japanese) .

Price

 

  One way(JPY) Round trip(JPY)
Sakari~Tadanoumi Adult 360 720
Child 180 360
Sakari~Okuno
Tadanoumi~Okuno
Adult 310 620
Child 160 320

Time table

 

  fr. Sakari fr. Okuno arr. Tadanoumi   fr. Tadanoumi fr. Okuno arr.Sakari
1 07:00 07:25 1 07:30 07:55
2 08:00 08:20 2 08:30 08:45 09:00
3 09:05 09:20 09:35 3 09:40 09:55 10:10
4 10:15 10:30 10:45 4 10:50 11:05 11:20
5 11:25 11:40 11:55 5 12:00 12:15 12:30
6 13:35 13:48 14:00 6 14:05 14:19 14:35
7 14:40 14:56 15:10 7 15:15 15:29 15:45
8 15:50 16:06 16:20 8 16:25 16:39 16:55
9 17:00 ※17:16 17:30 9 17:35 18:00
10 18:40 19:05 10 19:10 19:30

(※17:00 ship from Sakari stops at Okuno island ONLY during Feb-Oct.)

 Modified as of 29 April, 2016 subject to changes

Contact of ferry company:

Omishima Ferry

 

Tel: +81 0846-22-6199

Rough time frame to travel to rabbit island

To get the Tadanoumi port("忠海港" in Japanese)

5 min walk from JR Tadanoumi station

To get the Tadaonumi station("忠海駅" in Japanese)

 

From Tokyo

Shinkansen line toward Hiroshima( "bullet train") from Tokyo station or Shinagawa station to get Fukuyama station ("福山駅" in Japanese) 

Change at Fukuyama station to JR Sanyo hon-sen toward Mihara, to get Mihara station ("三原駅" in Japanese)

Change at Mihara ("三原駅" in Japanese) to  JR Kure-sen to get Tadanoumi station

 

From Osaka, Kyoto, Okayama

 

All on its way from Tokyo by bullet train toward Hiroshima.

Do you like rabbit? Source: Hiroshima prefecture
Do you like rabbit? Source: Hiroshima prefecture

Where to stay

Holiday Village Ohkunoshima

If you want to stay on the rabbit island, there is only one place. It is Holiday Village Ohkunoshima( "休暇村 大久野島/Kyukamura Ohkunoshima " ) which has a hotel and camping site. 

 

Hotel type accommodation

62 Japanese type rooms and 2 western type rooms

Starting from 9060JPY with two meals depending on plan and season

 

 

After you click the below picture, you jump to the Japanese website but you can book from the box at the bottom left corner.

Camping site

Camping site on Okunoshima island Source: Hiroshima prefecture
Camping site on Okunoshima island Source: Hiroshima prefecture

Starting from 1030JPY base price plus 410JPY per person

There are several plans such as one where you do not need to bring any camping equipment.

 

Website

Contact: +81 846-26-0321

Contact form( please choose Ohkunoshima where it says "at Kyukamura"  when contacting)

 

If you know more accommodations you recommend for the trip, please let us know! 

  

<<If you are interested in learning about more interesting islands in Japan, you can check our comprehensive Japanese island list here. >>

Other options to stay? At Mihara port

If not on the island, you can consider staying around the stations with a good access to  Mihara port. As we explained, the new ship line to Okunoshima from Mihara port starts in April, 2017. This way, staying at somewhere close to Mihara port is not bad idea. We show you some examples below.

Hotel Yassa

In front of Mihara station. You can rent a bike too.

 

Book this place now!

Center Hotel Mihara

In front of Mihara station. The hotel has normal type rooms and also capsule type rooms. In addition, it has many manga for you to read during your stay.

 

Book this place now!

Practical tips

We have some practical tips for visiting the rabbit islands.

 

1. Bring or buy some toilet paper in case you want to use the toilet at the Tadanoumi train station. No toilet paper.  Please make sure the paper dissolve in the water. Normal tissue paper does not dissolve so do not use (as of 2018).

 

2. Since the recent popularity, there are many visitors to this island.  Be prepared to be in the line to BUY the ferry ticket if on weekends or holiday seasons. Be ready to stand for 30-40 mins before you can buy the ferry ticket and some rabbit food. Then, you will be in another line to GET ON the ferry. Avoid the holiday seasons and go there EARLY.

 

3. Do not give too much food for rabbits. You may see some leftover lying on the ground where rabbits are too full. Due to the increase in visitor, the rabbits tend to get too full. The island office puts the sign at some locations saying "do not feed here". Please follow these instructions.

HAve a nice trip!

We hope that you have all information you need to know about the Okunoshima island. If you want us to feature other place in our section, feel free to talk to us!

 

Have a nice and safe trip!

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Onegai Kaeru, a group of passionate travelers, bring happiness to the world with its shopping support service and original super cute items!

 

Source: Wikipedia, Omishima Ferry line, Hiroshima prefecture, Okunoshima island tourist office

 

Disclaimer: Even though we try to make the info as updated and accurate but the accuracy of the information herein is not guaranteed by us. If you have any uncertainty, please contact the information source.

Write a comment

Comments: 6
  • #1

    Matthias (Tuesday, 01 November 2016 22:05)

    Nice one! Remembers me to my trip 2 years ago to Rabbit Islands :)

  • #2

    Marcel Vincenti (Friday, 21 July 2017 09:13)

    Dear friends, I am a journalist for the largest news website in Brazil (www.uol.com.br) and I´m planning to write a touristic article about Okunoshima Island, showing the landscapes dominated by rabbits of the island. Would you have some pictures of the rabbits in Okunoshima to send me, so I can use them to illustrate my story? Best! Marcel

  • #3

    Grace (Saturday, 23 June 2018 14:08)

    Please do not recommend the use of tissue paper in toilet. It is not dissolvable, thus causes harm to the system. You can ask the readers to buy a toilet paper and bring it along.

  • #4

    OK team (Saturday, 23 June 2018 23:21)

    Thank you, Grace for the comment! Very helpful.

    We have some type of issue papers which can dissolve in water but there are also many tissue papers which do not dissolve. We modified our article accordingly.

    It is our goal to make the article more useful with the helps from all our readers.

    Again, thank you!

  • #5

    Sara Milne (Tuesday, 08 January 2019 05:18)

    Hi, I live in the South of England & am a bunny fanatic. Myself & my husband would love to stay overnight on Bunny Island, so we can see the bunnies for a couple of days. How can we find out about the hotel, the cost of staying, how to book it & booking a once-in-a-lifetime holiday in Japan? I clicked where it said on this page, but the text waz i Japanese.

  • #6

    tommy (Thursday, 27 June 2019 23:26)

    Thanks to your news and article we found this rabbit island in Japan and could find how to get that island. We appreciate onegai kaeru so much!!!!!!