Ōkunoshima is a small island in Japan's Inland Sea that's become a tourist destination for one reason: it's crawling with friendly rabbits. Hundreds of them. They hop up to visitors expecting snacks. They pose for photos. They have no fear of humans. It's nauseatingly cute.

What the tourism brochures mention a little more quietly: from 1929 to 1945, this island was a top-secret Imperial Japanese chemical weapons facility. The factory produced over 6,000 tons of mustard gas and tear gas, much of it deployed against China during World War II. The operation was so classified that Ōkunoshima was removed from maps.

After the war, the Allies disposed of the chemical stockpiles (methods varied from burning to dumping in the ocean — yikes), and the island sat abandoned for decades. 10

Then cam

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