I was fascinatred by the history of this deserted island, once a place where Japan illegally created poisonous gases that they tested on Chinese people. This island is the how Japan became the only country in WW2 to use poisonous substances (against the geneva convention that they had signed).
On the island, Japan used high school boys to help work on the gas. At first they chose students with an aptitude for science. But of course, towards the end of the war this soon became whichever students were available. The students worked in ineffective protective gear, and accidents were common. If this happended, the students would mosty likely die, as there were no doctors on the island, and they were not allowed to seek medical attention from the mainland. The secret of this island was of the utmost importance. The island was erased off of maps, and trains going past the island would have their blinds pulled down so that no one on the train could see the island.
To get to the island, you need to catch a ferry from Tadanoumi station. By bus, it took us well over 2 hours to get to Tadanoumi station, but if you have a JR pass you can catch a shinkansen part of the way. Jason and I, as Japanese residents, can not get a JR pass, and so we were not willing to pay 60 dollars for the shinkansen fee. This was a mistake.
We lined up for our 8:25 bus. When the bus arrived, we were told that there was not enough room for us on this bus. We needed to wait an hour for the next bus! So we waited an hour, and caught the next bus. The bus moved horribly slowly in the Golden Week traffic, and took us over 2 hours, only to then tell us that this bus, unlike the last bus, does NOT go to Tadanoumi, it only goes part of the way! The bus before (that we were not allowed to get on) went all the way, but not this one! The bus driver had forsaken us! And now we were at the end of this bus line, with very little idea of where we were.
So we got off the bus and caught a local train, waiting another half an hour for this train. By the time we got to Tadanoumi, it was after 11 o clock, having left our house around 7.
When we got to Tadanoumi, we were not impressed by the site that met us. A line of people that stretched around the corner was waiting for tickets to go to Rabbit island. Now, this is probably not always the case, as it was a public holiday when we went, and a GOLDEN WEEK public holiday no less! So the Japanese people were out in full force to make the most of this sunny spring day. So I don't know how busy it gets on regaular days, but I would reccommend coming on a weekday, as the ferries sometimes only come once an hour, and if you cannot fit on one ferry, you have to wait for the next. Or the next. Or the next, as we did....
You buy your tickets from the ferry port just to the side of Tadanoumi station (there are signs directing you from the station) but the tickets are not assigned to a boat. So after that, you then have to wait in line to catch the ferry. So we waited in line for nearly 3 hours! We watched multiple ferries come, fill up, and leave, while we inched forward slowly in the line... You can't leave the line, otherwise you'd have to go to the back. It is a horrible system that definitely was not suitable for the amount of people that were trying to travel to Rabbit island on that day.
We FINALLY left for rabbit island on the ferry after 2pm! By this time, we were tired from standing and waiting for SO DAMN LONG, and we were sad that so much of the day had gone when we had woken up so early to make sure we could have as much time as possible on the island.The ferry trip is short, just 10-15 mins, and we disembarked on the island slightly renewed by the sight of bunnies resting around the coastal area. The bunnies were lounging in the sand, running accross the slopes, and eating carrots and cabbages that tourists had brought with them. You can also buy rabbit food from the ferry port for just 100 yen a bag, which is what we did.
At first, you want to just pat and feed every rabbit you see, but at some point you realise you're not going to get anywhere if this continues! So we took a left, and walked past a camping area, following signs to different areas of the island. The signs were mostly in Japanese, so I would reccommend trying to find a tourist map, or using the google translate photo option. Google maps was also helpful for working out how to get to cool sites on the island. But if you can't use those and can't find a tourist map, you can easily just walk in a circle around the island, following different paths as you come upon them. Most tracks seemed to be circular, or come back to a main circle path. That being said, with the limited time that we had, we only got to explore perhaps half of the island. I would have loved to explore more.
As you get further away from the main areas, the rabbits get fewer (less food in these areas) but you still see bunnies on the sides of the path very regularly. These ones often approach you as they see you coming, eager for your food.
The ruins of old war buildings were exciting to explore. They do have low fences keeping tourists out, but my husband and I disregarded these and went all the way into the old bildings, being careful with the shattered glass and debris. It was an amazing site to see rabbits scurrying though abandoned buildings and hopping over rubble.
There's also a poisonous gas museum on the island, but Jason and I weren't able to find it in the time that we had. I did hear though that most of the examples of poinsonous gas are from a different war (Vietnam war perhaps?) rather than being from World War 2, when this island was actually used to produce the poisonous gas. 
After exploring as much as we could in the short time that we had, we decided to join the massive line of people returning to the mainland. Again, we waited in line for at least 1 and a half hours, while boats became filled and left. Overall, the trip was wonderful and I want to go back and finish hiking the island, but on a weekday. I can't imagine how peaceful the island would be without hoards of people.
