(Admin note: This entry got lost in the shuffle, I’m afraid, and I apologize… it’s well worth it; just check out the pictures!! -James)

Okunoshima may have a dark past but it isn’t all sad and morbid and seems to be well on its way to a bright future.  It is a beautiful little island surrounded by other islands, which makes for awesome sunset pictures.  A beach, a resort (with a fantastic buffet!), tennis courts, hiking trails, a pool, onsens, and …..drumroll please!….. wild rabbits!  Yes, you read it right.  There are about 300 wild rabbits on the island that are everywhere (believe me they scared me a couple times on the hiking trail and at the top of the mountain!). Whether they were used for test subjects in the past is a controversy but whether they were are not they seem to be happy now!  Endless food, government protection (it’s the national parks), and no real natural enemies.  Nice!

You would have thought that I would get sick of feeding these little furry creatures but really I couldn’t get enough. They were all so cute and fun to watch.  If you shook the cup of food they would all come running out of the woods to reap the goods.  It’s like Nara but a hundred times cuter.  But I have to stay they are very hard to take good pictures of.  They don’t like to stand still and the minute they realize you don’t have food, they are off!