is an

island An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An isla ...

in the

Sea of Japan The Sea of Japan is the marginal sea between the Japanese archipelago, Sakhalin, the Korean Peninsula, and the mainland of the Russian Far East. The Japanese archipelago separates the sea from the Pacific Ocean. Like the Mediterranean Sea, i ...

off the northwestern tip of

Hokkaidō is Japan, Japan's Japanese archipelago, second largest island and comprises the largest and northernmost Prefectures of Japan, prefecture, making up its own List of regions of Japan, region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō from Honshu; th ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...

. The island sits off the coast of Hokkaidō. Rebun stretches from north to south and from east to west. The island covers approximately . Rebun Island is located northwest of Rishiri Island, and the two islands are separated by the Rebun Channel. Rebun Island is known for its alpine flowers and the 8-Hour Hiking Course which runs from one end of the island to the other, north to south. The hiking course can be broken into two sections, known as the 4-Hour Hiking Courses. Rebun Island is home to a chashi, or hilltop fortification of the

Ainu Ainu or Aynu may refer to: *Ainu people, an East Asian ethnic group of Japan and the Russian Far East *Ainu languages, a family of languages **Ainu language of Hokkaido **Kuril Ainu language, extinct language of the Kuril Islands **Sakhalin Ainu la ...

people. The highest point on the island is Mount Rebun (). The island is part of the Rishiri-Rebun-Sarobetsu National Park. Fossilized remains of long-finned pilot whales that are now extinct in the north Pacific have been excavated on Rebun Island, and remains of funerals for

orca The orca or killer whale (''Orcinus orca'') is a toothed whale belonging to the oceanic dolphin family, of which it is the largest member. It is the only extant species in the genus '' Orcinus'' and is recognizable by its black-and-white ...

s, possibly referring them as Repun Kamuy (God of Sea/Offshore) have been found as well.Miyanaga T.. 2014. "（北海道）「シャチ送り」の遺構か　礼文島の遺跡で出土".

Asahi Shimbun is one of the four largest newspapers in Japan. Founded in 1879, it is also one of the oldest newspapers in Japan and Asia, and is considered a newspaper of record for Japan. Its circulation, which was 4.57 million for its morning edition a ...

. Retrieved on October 04, 2017 Rebun Island is also the site where the last reliable record of the extinct Japanese sea lion came from in 1974.

Etymology

The name of the island comes from the

Ainu language Ainu (, ), or more precisely Hokkaido Ainu, is a language spoken by a few elderly members of the Ainu people on the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido. It is a member of the Ainu language family, itself considered a language family isolate ...

, in which "Repun" means "(island) in the open sea" (from ''rep'' "the offing, open sea" + ''-un'' "to be in ~").

Climate

Areas of interest

* Mount Rebun * Peach Rock, or ''Momoiwa'' * Jizo Rock * Cat Rock, or ''Nekoiwa'' * Cape Sukoton * Cape Kaneda * Cape Gorota * Cape Sukai * Todo Island * Lake Kushu * Yamunai Valley * Rebun Forest Road * Rebun Falls

Communities

All communities on Rebun Island are part of the town of Rebun in Rebun District. From roughly from north to south, they are: * Sukoton * Awabikoton * Hamanaka * Funadomari * Horodomari * Uedomari * Nairo * Kitousu * Kafukai * Kafuka * Shiretoko

Transportation

* Ferry link to Rishiri Island, Wakkanai, and Otaru via Rishiri * Air link to Wakkanai Airport

Ancient people

A Jomon woman excavated from Funadomari remains (about 3,800 - 3,500 YBP) on the Rebun Island in Hokkaido belongs to Haplogroup D1b2a(D-CTS220).神澤ほか(2016)「礼文島船泊縄文人の核ゲノム解析」第70回日本人類学大�

in Japanese) This discovery proved the hypothesis that Haplogroup D1b is one of the Jomon linages.

In popular culture

In the

manga Manga ( Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is ...

and

anime is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...

series '' Food Wars!: Shokugeki no Soma'', the island is the last step in the Promotion test which takes place across Hokkaido Island.

Gallery

File:Rebun island seen from Rishiri island.jpg, Rebun island (background) seen from Mount Rishiri File:Lake Kusyu.JPG, Lake Kusyu on Rebun island File:Rebun Island Cat Rock.JPG, Neko-iwa, 'cat rock' File:Momoiwa.JPG, Momo-iwa, 'peach rock' File:sukai.jpg, Sukai Cape File:Sukoton.JPG, Sukoton Cape and Todo island File:Rebun_Island_20140814.jpg, Rebun Island in 2014

References

External links

* {{Authority control Islands of the Sea of Japan Islands of Hokkaido