Yakushima

Yakushima, Japan

Yakushima receives up to 10 metres of rain per year in its interior mountain zones. The locals have a saying: it rains 35 days a month. This is not a deterrent. The rain is why the ancient cedar forest looks the way it does: enormous moss-covered trees, root systems spreading across boulders, every surface soft and green. Hayao Miyazaki’s team spent significant time on Yakushima before making Princess Mononoke, and walking through the Shiratani Unsuikyo gorge on a misty morning makes the film’s setting feel entirely non-fictional.

The island is a roughly circular 504 square kilometres off the southern tip of Kyushu, with UNESCO World Heritage status since 1993 specifically for its ancient cedar ecosystem.

Getting There

Yakushima is accessible by jet hydrofoil from Kagoshima (Toppy or Rocket services, approximately 2 hours) or by Yakushima Air flights from Kagoshima Airport (35 minutes). The hydrofoil is the more practical option for most visitors; the overnight ferry is cheaper but takes 4+ hours. Kagoshima reaches by Shinkansen from Kyoto and Osaka in about 3 hours.

Rent a car at the port. Public buses cover the main coastal road but are infrequent and miss most trailheads. Without a car, you’ll spend more time waiting than hiking.

The Jomonsugi

The Jomonsugi (Jomon cedar) is the island’s most famous tree: a yakusugi estimated at 2,170 to 7,200 years old depending on which part of the trunk was sampled. It stands 25 metres tall with a trunk circumference of 16 metres, and you cannot hug it because visitors are kept on a viewing platform roughly 20 metres away. The tree is cordoned off to prevent root compaction. You get a clear view of the scale, which is sufficient.

The hike to reach it is serious: the Arakawa Trail from Arakawa Trailhead is 22 kilometres return with about 600 metres of elevation gain. Most hikers allow 10 hours. Private vehicles are prohibited from the trailhead from 1 March to 30 November; you take a shuttle bus from the Yakusugi Shizenkan visitor centre. As of 2025, bus prices run JPY 2,000 one-way or JPY 3,000 return, including an environmental conservation fee. Buses run only three times in the morning and five times for the return; plan your turnaround carefully.

Start between 5:30 and 6:00am. The trail begins on an abandoned narrow-gauge railway track from a former logging operation: flat, pleasant, easy for the first 3 kilometres. After that, it becomes a proper forest hike. The old logging railway is actually one of the more poignant parts of the walk: the infrastructure of the industry that once harvested these trees now serves as the path to see what survived it.

Yakusugi Land, a shorter loop trail through ancient cedar groves at lower altitude, is driveable and takes 1-2 hours. Much less dramatic than the Jomonsugi hike but achievable for anyone without full-day hiking capacity.

The Rest of the Island

Mount Miyanoura-dake at 1,936 metres is the highest peak in Kyushu. A multi-day traverse requires camping or mountain hut accommodation. The Yodogawa trail on the western coast to the high plateau is more accessible as a day hike: 8 kilometres return to the plateau, with straightforward navigation and the Kigensugi tree at around 1,500 metres as a midpoint landmark.

The island’s endemic wildlife is worth noting: Yaku-jika (a small subspecies of sika deer) and Yaku-saru (subspecies of Japanese macaque) are habituated to human presence and move through the forest and roadside areas freely throughout the day. The macaques will take food from unzipped bags opportunistically.

Eating and Staying

Miyanoura Port has the main concentration of accommodation and restaurants. Staying in a ryokan with two meals (kaiseki dinner and Japanese breakfast) is worth doing at least one night: the island-grown rice, flying fish (tobousakana), and local sweet potato shochu make a genuinely local meal that does not translate to city restaurant versions.

The best months are March-May and October-November. August is the busiest month; accommodation books out months in advance. The rainy season (June-July) is legitimately wet but the forest looks extraordinary, and prices are lower.

Bring full waterproofs regardless of season. A light rain jacket will fail you. The island’s weather changes quickly and the interior is consistently wetter than the coast, where the forecast was when you checked it.