Okunoshima?

OK, so I came across Okunoshima (aka "Bunny Island") today. Is it worth seeing? And is it English friendly?

From the website it looked liked it could be interesting to spend a short time there as a side trip while we are visiting Hiroshima and Miya Jima... or maybe as a place to spend the night after walking around Miya Jima.

It looks like all the island has to offer is a lot of cute rabbits and a depressing museum about poison gas production during the war.

I saw one hotel on the island.. . are there more? Or is the Qkamura nice? I saw it was only 7875 yen per night, which is a bit on the cheap side.

Also, how far is it from Hiroshima or Miya Jima? I am trying to figure out how the ferries run in that area and how much time it would take.

(We will be staying in Osaka for 3-4 weeks, and taking a side trip to Hiroshima and Himeji. Figured we would see Himeji on the way to Hiroshima. We would then tour Peach Park, spend the night and see Miya Jima and the Mazda Museum the next day before catching a late train back to Osaka... although now I've found an island of bunnies!)

Ferries depart from Tadanoumi, 75 kilometers east of Hiroshima. You can get there by local and rapid trains in about 90 minutes via Mihara.

I visited Okunoshima several years ago and it is definitely worth a visit. The island is very interesting and rather exemplifies the attitude of the Japanese government towards WWII. On one hand there is honesty and on the other a preference to forget or deny. The museum about the poison gas production and testing that occurred on the island is small but informative. A walk around the island will reveal the underground facilities, which are largely unmarked with little to know information. I do not recommend ignoring warning signs or going too far off path though, as clean up of toxic substances has been minimal, with the majority of waste buried on the island. That said, you might want to avoid the tap water (findings of toxic levels of arsenic were made public in 1996). The hotel is nice and is on the cheaper side in order to attract visitors, given the island's history. The concierge and other hotel employees were tight lipped about the island's past when I was there and I was told that the rabbits were not descendents of escapees from the poison gas testing done there, but were in fact indigenous to the island - which is simply not true in the slightest.

Robyn,
Where in Hiroshima is Peach park? Anything to do with Momotaro (Peach boy)? sounds interesting anyway. Is it close to Peace park, the memorial to the horrible destructions by an atomic bomb during WWII?

I have a feeling that Robyn meant to write "Peace Park" ^_^;;

Yeah, I meant Peace Park... sorry... typos!