{"id":296,"date":"2013-11-02T08:55:25","date_gmt":"2013-11-02T08:55:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ippei-janine.com\/travel-japan-islands\/?post_type=portfolio&p=296"},"modified":"2025-08-14T08:00:45","modified_gmt":"2025-08-14T08:00:45","slug":"yakushima-kagoshima-kyushu","status":"publish","type":"portfolio","link":"https:\/\/ippei-janine.com\/travel-japan-islands\/destinations\/yakushima-kagoshima-kyushu\/","title":{"rendered":"Yakushima Island"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Yakushima Island is listed as a UNESCO World Natural Heritage site, and it is for true nature explorers. Yakushima<\/em> is mostly famous for hiking through pristine mossy rainforests, however it also boasts beautiful beaches (and has one of the world’s most important nesting grounds for the endangered loggerhead turtle) and great seafood. It’s easily accessible from mainland Kagoshima.
\nYakushima is formed by a single giant granite monolith with the highest point being almost 2000 meters. Because of this, it is very interesting to explore the different elevations, each with its own climate, unique vegetation (from snow capped mountains with cedar trees to subtropical rainforests with native palm trees and wild bananas) and also wildlife. There is a high chance of encountering indigenous red-bottom monkeys, \u201cYakushima Macaque\u201d and indigenous deer, \u201cYaku-shika\u201d (sometimes you can see a monkey riding on a deer!). <\/p>\n

For hiking, depending on the trail, you can experience untouched primeval temperate rainforest, ancient plantation forest (or both, such as Shiratani Unsuikyo<\/a>), subtropical rainforest with palm trees (such as the trail to Janokuchi Falls<\/a>), over 3000 year old Japanese cedar trees (such as Yakusugi Land<\/a> and Jomonsugi<\/a>), and other unique flora and fauna.
\nIn the ancient plantation forests, it’s interesting to see the traces of man, with cedar trees growing over stumps of forested cedar trees.<\/p>\n

The mossy Yakushima forest inspired the forest setting in Miyasaki\u2019s 1997 animation, \u201cPrincess Mononoke<\/a>\u201d.
\nHowever, you can\u2019t have all the beautiful lush forest without rain – Yakushima is one of the wettest places in the world, with the average rainfall\u00a0reaching up to\u00a010,000mm per year<\/a>. Pack your rain coat!<\/p>\n

On a sunny day (and when it’s not a northerly wind), it’s nice to go snorkeling with colorful tropical fish and sea turtles at Isso Beach<\/a>. There is also a off-the-beach snorkeling tour to see sea turtles<\/a>. It’s also nice to jump into the inviting clear water of Yokogawa Valley<\/a>.<\/p>\n

For packrafting\/kayaking\/SUPing, we highly recommend Anbo River and Miyanoura River.<\/p>\n

For gelato in unique island flavors, we highly recommend Sora-Umi<\/a>.
\nFor high quality espresso-based coffee, we just love Issou Coffee Roastery<\/a><\/p>\n

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