Matsue to Hiroshima
Another long train morning: out of Matsue at 7am, and down to Hiroshima by half past ten, with buns for breakfast on board. Lunch near Hiroshima Station was gyoza, buried under a mountain of green onions.
Along the Inland Sea
From Hiroshima, the JR Kure Line hugs the coast of the Seto Inland Sea, with islands everywhere you look. It’s slow and very pretty. We got off at Tadanoumi, a tiny seaside station, where the ferry goes across to Okunoshima.
Rabbit Island
Okunoshima is a small island covered in wild rabbits, hundreds of them. Nobody’s completely sure where they came from. They hop over the moment you step off the ferry, especially if they hear a bag of pellets.
It was the hottest part of the day, and the rabbits were smarter than us: most were lying flat in the shade, under bushes, or next to the water bowls the island leaves out. They only got up for food.
The Dark Side
The island has a dark history. From 1929 to 1945, the Japanese army made poison gas here in secret, and the island was wiped off the maps. You can still walk past the ruins of the old power plant, a concrete shell covered in vines.
On the way back, we changed trains at Mihara, which is famous for octopus, so there was an octopus snack on the platform.
Okonomiyaki Night
Back in Hiroshima, dinner had to be okonomiyaki, Hiroshima style: layered instead of mixed, with cabbage, bean sprouts, pork, noodles and egg all stacked up on the griddle. We found a tiny counter place off Hondori, covered in Hiroshima Carp posters.
Tomorrow: Miyajima and Mt Misen.
Information About Okunoshima
A small island in the Seto Inland Sea, 15 minutes by ferry from Tadanoumi Station on the JR Kure Line. Hundreds of wild rabbits, and the ruins of a wartime poison gas factory.
PS: Buy rabbit pellets before you board, at the ferry terminal. Don't feed them bread or snacks, and don't pick them up.