A Storm In The Pacific

2023年6月3日 19:16

News about Tropical Storm Mawar has been circulating around with Japan being in its path, bringing heavy rain to several areas across the country, disrupting multiple transport services and daily lives of citizens.

Rain is usually welcome when the mercury readings are high as it helps to cool the heat down. This is the way nature works. However what we fear is too much of rain may cause floods or even landslides.

This act by Mother Nature reminds me of the flood in Japan during July 2018. One thing I have yet to share about myself is I used to make frequent trips to Hiroshima. Apart from Tokyo, Hiroshima is the 2nd most visited prefecture for me as I have been there 11 times between February 2017 to January 2020. Why Hiroshima one may ask? It is because of Okunoshima, also known as Rabbit Island, which made me travel there so often. It all began from the passing of a pet rabbit my wife (then girlfriend) owned. Our beloved Kiwi (her name), a Holland Lop passed away on Christmas Day in 2016, drastically changing the way we feel about Christmas since then. Our first trip to Okunoshima in February 2017 was meant to be distraction from the pain and sorrow we felt following Kiwi's departure from our lives.

There are a couple of theories on why there are free roaming rabbits on Okunoshima - one being related to the island's history and another the outcome from an act by students in the 70s. Till this day, I am still unsure which theory to believe in. The background and history on Okunoshima can be found on the internet so I shall not include them here.

My wife and I grew to be very attached to Okunoshima, after observing and caring for these cute fluffy island dwellers. As it progresses, we started becoming "volunteers" eventually, instead of visitors; bringing hay, pellet, selected vegetables and carrots as treats, as well as helping to refill water on dishes across the island (Yes! Rabbits do drink water!). It was tiring and tough, but yet there is some subtle joy by doing these simple tasks. Of course this comes with sadness as well which I shall perhaps describe in the future. Through our visits, we also got to know some "volunteers" from other parts of Japan.

So came July 2018, we learned from these volunteers on Instagram that heavy rain had hit Hiroshima, causing scattered floods and landslides on Okunoshima. The damage around Hiroshima was so severe that Kure Line railway tracks were damaged, causing the train service to cease for repair works over a period of time. The nearest train station to ride the ferry across to Okunoshima is Tadanoumi which is on the Kure Line. There is another ferry service from Mihara but that is only available during weekends.

As I departed Okunoshima for Singapore just days before the disaster happened, work back home could not allow me to make another trip so soon again. Being worried about the little friends, I constantly looked for updates from posts on Instagram, with some that bore bad news.

After the storm passed came the extreme heat in mid-July. Temperatures rose causing some sort of a heatwave on the island. The dishes containing water on the island were all dried up and no volunteers could make any trip to the island in a short notice. With some flexibility of time on my hands, I bought a flight ticket to Hiroshima arriving on July 19th.

The heat upon arrival in the afternoon was something I've never experienced before, far worse than my days in the military. I thought Singapore was hot enough but Okunoshima was on another level. After checking into Kyukamura Resort (the only hotel on the island), I started filling the empty dishes in the hotel's vicinity with water and how glad I was to see the little creatures hopping towards me to get a taste of fresh cool water. Further to this, I was also relieved to see some familiar rabbit faces being safe and well.

For the next couple of days, I carried on doing the same until my wife joined me from Tokyo. However, certain areas were out of bounds caused by the landslide so there were no access due to safety reasons. This trip was shorter than usual as other volunteers have arranged to visit the island after my departure date, so I could return to Singapore with a little peace of mind but also a heavy heart.

Below are selected photos taken between June 2018 to July 2018 which are precious to me because these little friends have either disappeared or crossed the rainbow bridge, and would like share them with you. Their disappearance could be them being hunted by predators such as boars, cats, crows or kites on the island.