An island full of wild wabbits? Um, where do we sign up? But more importantly, where do we go? That would be Ōkunoshima, in the Seto Inland Sea in Takehara, Hiroshima Prefecture. Or as is more commonly called, Usagi Jima. (Oh! That’s why it’s Usagi Jojimbo!)
Our story harkens back, as so many do, to old Double-U Double-U 2. Japan needed an out-of-the-way place to create and test some nefariously gnarly stuff. Usagi Jima was
where the Japanese Imperial Army manufactured thousands of tons of poison gas during World War II in a facility so secret the island was removed from all Japanese maps.
Source: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/japan-rabbit-island-dark-history-180962631/
You may be saying “OK, bros, that tells us what the goings-on were but what’s that got do to with wascally wabbits?”
Well, remember how we said “create and test” the gas? The second part is where the rabbits come in. The lurid rumor has been that the bunnies there today are the ancestors of those that were used to test the gas. Thankfully, that’s been called into question. Not the fact that rabbits were used to test the gas, that part is sadly true. The rabbits on the island when the Japanese fled after losing the war were reportedly euthanized by the American soldiers taking over the island. So the likelihood of the rabbits there today having such horrific ancestry is less likely. The more likely (bushy) tale is that a group of gakusei released eight rabbits while visiting the island on a school field trip in 1971.
No matter how they got there, once there (or once freed) they had the island to themselves. No pesky humans (with or without blunderbusses) or predators, they procreated like, well, like themselves! And that’s part one of the problem.
With cats and dogs not allowed on the jima, and with hunting likewise banned, the ecosystem went to that very warm place in a basket that fits in the hand. Cute and cuddly the bunnies may be, but nature is not. The natural ecosystem of any area is delicately balanced. Each species plays a role in the balancing. With but one species, the impact of said species gets turned up to eleven. With no predators to stop them from eating grass, the rabbits will eventually run out of food. And that’s part B of the problem.
Cute bunny jima? We’re do we sign up? We know we already said that but we’re not alone. Not by far. The hare-y paradise attracts many a visitor. They bring with them cabbage to entice an up-close and personal encounter with the furry denizens. Not the best choice of food; it’s low in fiber and high on bloat. The visitors also tend to come in a feast-or-famine cycle. Sunny days have oodles of visitors while rainy days have none. As a result of this all-or-nothing feeding frenzy, the average life-span for a usagi on Usagi Jima is two years instead of the expected eight to twelve.
So yeah, Rabbit Island? Seems like a good idea but is really quite tragic.
A Brother and A Half 
