TAKEHARA, Japan: The Takehara municipal government in Hiroshima Prefecture may introduce a tourist tax on Okunoshima Island in response to an increase in littering and other overtourism-related issues.
The city aims to introduce the tax on the island, which is also known as Rabbit Island because hundreds of rabbits live there, in or after fiscal 2028.
According to the city’s industrial promotion division, about 195,000 people visited the island in 2024.
The tax would be used to fund measures to maintain the environment, including disposing of waste from feeding rabbits by tourists, installing multilingual signage for the convenience of foreign visitors and preserving such wartime relics as the remains of a poison gas storage facility that belonged to the Imperial Japanese Army.
Between November 2024 and early 2025, a large number of rabbits were found dead in suspicious circumstances, and a man was arrested for abusing rabbits.
Before the end of March, the city plans to hold the first meeting of a study committee comprising officials from the city and the Environment Ministry, which manages the island, as well as a university professor and others. The committee is expected to discuss how to collect the tax, how much to levy, specific ways to use the revenue and other points.
In October 2023, the municipal government of Hatsukaichi, which is also in the prefecture, introduced a tax of 100 yen (63 US cents) per elementary school-aged or older visitor to Miyajima Island, which is part of the city and home to Itsukushima Shrine, a Unesco World Heritage site. - The Japan News/ANN
