Only after World War II did the secret spill: Ōkunoshima, located in the Inland Sea of Japan between Hiroshima and Shikoku, was the top-secret site for manufacturing chemical warfare. When the factories were closed down, a number of exotic wild rabbits were seen freely roaming the island. They were assumed to have been the test subjects for the chemical weapons, which the military failed to eradicate when the factory was demolished.

A woman with Kimono looks at cherry trees in bloom in Shinjuku Gyoen in Tokyo, Japan on Thursday, April 4, 2024. (Photo by Noriko Hayashi for The Washington Post)

A child reacts as a family takes a break next to a cooling mist at the Sensoji temple as Japanese government issued heat stroke alerts in 39 of the country's 47 prefectures in Tokyo, Japan on July 22, 2024. (Photo by Issei Kato/Reuters)

This photo taken on March 10, 2025 shows the former disaster prevention office building in Minamisanriku Town, Miyagi Prefecture, lit up on the eve of the 14th anniversary of the 2011 earthquake and tsunami disaster. (Photo by JIJI Press/AFP Photo)

At the end of rice harvesting season, the folks of the Kagawa and Niigata Prefectures in Japan hold a straw festival to celebrate the abundance of the harvest. Dried straws cover wooden frames to form larger-than-life sculptures from animals like sharks and gorillas to vessels such as ships and tanks. The family-friendly event invites visitors of all ages to engage, interact, and play on the enormous structures.

A man enters an adult amusement establishment in Shinjuku's nightlife district of Kabukicho in Tokyo, August 27, 2015. (Photo by Thomas Peter/Reuters)

A groundskeeper uses a bamboo broom at Kasumigaike Pond at Kenrokuen Garden in Kanazawa, Japan on January 12, 2016. The japanese garden, located next to Kanazawa Castle, encompasses over 28 acres in downtown Kanazawa. With two ponds, rolling hills with streams and bridges, is considered a strolling-style landscape garden. It's regarded as one of the top three most beautiful gardens in Japan. (Photo by Linda Davidson/The Washington Post)