Rebun Island
Rebun Island is a small island in northern Japan, its elongated tip is Cape Sukotan, the northernmost point of the country. You can get to the island by ferry, which regularly sails here from the neighboring island of Rishiri and from Hokaido. Travel time is on average 2 hours. A small port town, outside the tourist season it seems almost uninhabited. Restaurants, cafes and souvenir shops are closed. A simple, quiet, very provincial life is going on.
Brief description
The tourist season begins in mid-April and continues until September. At this time, the island attracts thousands of nature lovers from different parts of Japan and other countries. Rebun Island is also called the floating island of flowers. In spring, summer and early autumn, its mountainous slopes are covered with a colorful blanket of flowers. The rare endemic flower “Venus’s slipper” is very popular. Many Japanese, great lovers of contemplating everything beautiful, come here solely to admire a small, pale yellow flower, very delicate and very rare. In most cases, it is almost immediately plucked by poachers, and it can only be seen in special protected clearings, where its growth is protected by specialists.
For nature lovers, special hiking trails have been developed and laid out on Rebun Island, all of them of different lengths and distances, each with its own small features. And all of them require some skill, since each has a difference in height. When planning to go on a trek, even a short one, it is useful to take care of the right shoes and hat. Traveling on a clear day, you can see another Rishiri island and the volcano of the same name on it, located 19 kilometers from Rebun Island.
Island Features
The Japanese say that Rebun Island is a real paradise for all seafood lovers; they are available here all year round. Freshly caught from the sea, they are immediately delivered to local restaurants, where they are served to tourists, for a very reasonable fee. People especially praise sea urchins and claim that it is not in vain. They say that Rebun sea urchins are the most delicious in the whole world. But it’s best to try them immediately after catching them. Local fishermen go out to sea for urchins for only 40 minutes, no longer allowed by environmental authorities and take blacks and whites out of the water. The decline in population is the result of active fishing and the great popularity of the seafood delicacy.
On Rebun Island you can see large farms, where entire families are engaged in drying seaweed, from here they spread further throughout the country. Rebun Island is a small provincial island that has gained popularity among tourists due to its extraordinary natural features. Before you go here, don't forget to take your camera with you, the pictures are picturesque.
