Having spent the last three weeks travelling “mainland Japan” we arrived Yakushima mid July 2023. The same means of transport (ferry) as everybody else took us from Kagoshima to Miyanoura Port and we started the visit by renting a small car at the harbour.

We drove immediately towards the Yakasugi Museum close to Anbo harbour. We had already decided that we wanted to do the long hike to Jomon Sugi the next day. At the bus stop close by there was a small kiosk that sold tickets for the hike.

We stayed the night in a guesthouse in Anbo called La Isla Tasse, very convenient for the hike. The next morning we left at 4:15, with packed breakfast and lunch. At the bus stop we had some trouble understanding the Japanese queuing system, but we finally found our place. At 5 we were on the bus leaving for the trail base. It started raining during the 40 minutes bus ride, so we prepared by pulling out our raincoats. Starting the hike with several others from our bus we were surprised by the Japanese culture of always using umbrellas, but only 5 minutes into the hike we understood! In this humidity a raincoat makes you more wet on the inside than on the outside, thus umbrellas for everybody – even on a long forest hike. Luckily the rain stopped after a short while.

The trail is on a narrow-gauge railway track which is not steep at all even though the area around is steep. The hike is between the hills and goes through tunnels and crosses the river several times. It is a 9 km hike on this railway track, and it took us about 2 1/2 hours. Then the more challenging part, the 2.8 km forest hike. It’s mostly upwards – but some downwards as well - on ladder-like stairs, rocks, roots, and the uneven forest floor. There were posters with “proceed with caution” and “please watch your step”, but it’s really no problem. The problem is the moist and the heat. Drinking water is essential. There are several places to fill up your bottle btw. About 3 1/2 hours into the trip, we reached our first goal – the sign telling us we were entering the Yakushima World Natural Heritage Property. Wonderful! Another 30 minutes later we reached our second goal, the ancient Jomon Sugi Cedar tree! A series of wooden platforms made us able to study the huge old tree (and all other trees surrounding it) without trespassing the “intimate zone” of the tree. Very nicely done! And the tree is majestic!
We were about to have our lunch break immediately when we discovered the sign saying “no food on the platform” – so we had to move our lunch somewhere else.
The vegetation is primeval in every sense. The living trees, the fallen ones – all covered in green moist moss, all the shapes all around – makes it a jungle although different from the one at the coastline. It was kind of disappointing there were no animals to see, only birds here and there.
The return trip was easier, but it starts tiring your muscles and body. We used about 8 hours in total – and we didn’t rush. Then we had to wait for an hour for the first returning bus.

For the next two nights we stayed at a simpler, but nice guesthouse close to the Miyanoura Port called Minnsyuku Yakushimaya, with traditional Japanese rooms.

The second full day we used the car to see the island and the “other side” of the core zone. No hikes today, the legs needed a rest. Els has explained this in detail, but it helps to get there with a rental car. There are some nice, deserted beaches on the way. It seems like the Japanese are more into onsen than beaches. We enjoyed a beach and a swim and had a wonderful lunch with a view at a little café called Sea & Sun.

The following morning, we had an early ferry back to the Kagoshima, but we were fooled. The 7 o’clock ferry was not departing from the Miyanoura Port, but from Anbo Port. A minor mistake as we got new tickets for the 10:20 ferry. We got a delay but nothing serious.

We had a wonder couple of days on the (kind of remote) sub-tropic Japanese island, a highlight on our Japan trip!

### Randi & Svein Elias