Verified in Japan

Hachinohe, Aomori / 蕪島（ウミネコ繁殖地・蕪嶋神社）

Kabushima Island, Black-tailed Gull Colony

A former island, now joined to the shore, where tens of thousands of black-tailed gulls nest from spring to summer — a national Natural Monument you can watch up close, with Kabushima Shrine on the island.

A black-tailed gull standing on a wooden rail, with many more gulls flying over the rocky shore
Black-tailed gulls at Kabushima (photo taken August 2009)Photo: panina.anna / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0 · License · Source

Last official check

25 Sept 2026

Traveler reports

0

Reports open in Phase 2

Next scheduled check

24 Dec 2026

Decide before you go

A short summary made from the official facts below. Check the rows for details.

Getting there
Train / Bus / Car
Closing days
Has closing days (see below)

Before you go

Only facts we confirmed on official sources are shown. Anything else is listed under “Not yet confirmed”.

Opening hours

The Kabushima rest house next to the island is open 9:00-17:00 (until 16:00 from December to March).

Checked 25 Sept 2026 on a tourism board site
Closed

The rest house is closed over the New Year holidays.

Checked 25 Sept 2026 on a tourism board site
Getting there

15 min on foot from Same Station (JR Hachinohe Line), or the Umineko sightseeing bus to Kabushima Kaihin Koen. By car, 30 min from Hachinohe Station or 25 min from Hachinohe IC.

Checked 25 Sept 2026 on a tourism board site
Parking

Use the free Kabushima car park and others near the Kabunya shop. There is no parking by the rest house, and don't use the shrine's own car park.

Checked 25 Sept 2026 on a tourism board site
Not yet confirmed

Admission, Payment, Accessibility

we have not confirmed this on an official source yet. Check with the spot before you go.

Found wrong or outdated information? Let us know

Address: Hachinohe, Aomori (Japanese address: 青森県八戸市鮫町鮫56-2)

Official site: https://visithachinohe.com/spot/kabushima/

Location

Smaller pins are other spots nearby.

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Nearby spots

Distances are straight-line distances, not travel distances.

Crowds

Not yet confirmed

Crowd level, Best time to visit, Peak time, Busiest days, Busiest season

no official source yet, and not enough traveler reports.

Latest traveler report
None yet

The gulls arrive in early March, lay eggs around April, hatch around June and leave around August. Rape blossoms cover the island in mid-May.Checked 25 Sept 2026 on a tourism board site

Traveler crowd data by time of day appears after 5 traveler reports (0 so far).

You can check typical busy hours in Google Maps ("Popular times" on the place's page). Open this spot in Google Maps

Visiting respectfully

  • Local etiquetteIn the breeding season cars heading to the island have hit gulls, so park in a free car park and walk. From the rest house you can watch the gulls through big windows without worrying about droppings.Checked 25 Sept 2026 on a tourism board site
  • Local etiquetteKabushima is the northern start and end point of the Michinoku Coastal Trail.Checked 25 Sept 2026 on a tourism board site

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