Japan June 2011 - Day 7 - Yakushima

Yakushima has been one of my dream destinations for a long time, I have just never been able to fit it into one of my previous trips – but planned this whole holiday around it. The main appeal is the beautiful ancient cedar forests, all covered in moss and streams of water gushing everywhere. Located off the south tip of Japan, the island has a very warm climate. It is small and circular, and most of the terrain is mountainous and covered in lush jungle, flowers or ancient forest. It is one of the rainiest places in all of Japan, which means everything is lusher, more vivid and gushing waterfalls and rivers are abundant. There is only a small human population on the island as it is so remote, however there is an enormous population of critters - deer & monkey being the most rampant, however there are a number of beaches that serve as the nesting grounds for loggerhead turtles. The scenery is so spectacular is served as inspiration for Hayao Miyazaki's Princess Mononoke. Finally my dreams were coming true and it was time to visit Yakushima!

The place certainly didn’t disappoint! Coming across on the jetfoil we passed a few small islands and then the towering forested mountains of Yakushima loomed closer. As well as feeling like we were approaching Jurassic Park, there is a slight 70’s feel to some of the built up parts of Yakushima such as the port, and it all makes if feel like you are in a James Bond movie, landing on an evil meglomaniacs private secret island with research bunkers. Now to me a combination of Jurassic Park and James Bond is already a sign of good things, and I was bursting with excitement when we stepped foot on the island. We were met immediately by the car rental company who drove us to their office to pick up our car. The poor guy working there spoke a little english but seemed extremely frustrated by his command of the language and even started sweating! He seemed really eager to please us but wasn't happy with how he was going - no amount of us smiling or saying ok seemed to calm him down haha. Eventually we finished our paperwork and set off to drive to our first accommodation.

Morinokokage Cottage - what a gorgeous place! I had printed very specific instructions on how to get to the cottages, and even printed a picture of the point where we had to turn. At the time I thought it would be incredibly easy to see - There is only really one main road that encircles the island, there was a wooden sign on one side, a large rock marker on the other, and bunches of hydrangea bushes. As soon as we started driving I noticed something, there were wooden signs EVERYWHERE, there were large rock markers EVERYWHERE and you couldn't look anywhere without seeing squillions of hydrangea bushes. Despite this we eventually found the turn off (after passing it a couple of times..) and arrived at our accommodation.

The owner met us as we drove in and showed us into our cottage, he explained how to use everything in the cottage and gave us some information on the island. We stayed at Morinokokage for two nights during our stay and came across Ryosaku-san and his family a number of times and he is just the loveliest guy! Of course most Japanese people are incredibly friendly and lovely, but we were lucky that he spoke excellent english as he had spent a few months studying in our home city in Australia! My bf spent quite a bit of time asking him questions about monkeys on the island and all the mischief they got up to. I would also like to blame my addiction to green tea lattes on Ryosaku-san as he brought us a complimentary drink on our last morning and it was AMAZING.

When we arrived Ryosaku-san also seemed extremely excited that we were there. I was a bit confused until he explained that they had been looking forward to us arriving since we booked months ago because we were the first foreign tourists since the Tsunami to book accommodation there. He said around 90% of their bookings from foreign tourists were cancelled after the Tsunami, and there had been no new bookings until mine. The Tsunami was on March 11, and this was on June 14. We spent quite a bit of time discussing why it was that tourists were not visiting places like Yakushima which is over 1000km's away from where the Tsunami hit. I tried to explain how the international media had portrayed the disaster, and that in general people did not understand the size of Japan or the overinflated reporting on radiation. He had had people calling him from all over the world asking if he was ok, when he was not in the slightest bit close to the disaster zone. I really hope that business has picked up for him as he has an amazing setting in the most incredible place in Japan.

Our Morinokokage Cottage & rental car

Morinokokage Cottage

Morinokokage Cottage beds and hammock

Morinokokage Cottage

We had a few hours left in the day so we took a little drive from the cottages and went to check out two of the nearby waterfalls. Senpiro Falls is quite beautiful as the water falls over a series of smooth rockfaces. There are also a number of observation decks dotted around the falls where you can look down over them or out over the ocean, villages or mountains.

Senpiro Falls

Senpiro Falls

Observation deck from Senpiro Falls

Ryujin-no-taki Falls:

Ryujin no taki falls

Ryujin no taki falls

Getting there

Toppy Jetfoil: www.toppy.jp
Rocket Jetfoil: http://www.cosmoline.jp
English information on other Jetfoil, Ferry, Flight options: Yakumonkey

Toppy Jetfoil

Ticket counter in Kagoshima for Toppy Jetfoil

Accommodation

Hotel: Morinokokage Cottage
Price: ¥10,500 ($-) 5,250 per person for Type-C Room
Location: 891-4312 292-9, Funayuki, Yakushima-cyo, Kumage-gun, Kagoshima-ken
Additional: You can book bentos, bbq, breakfast and car hire through Morinokokage.
Web: http://www.morinokokage.net/english.html
Booking: We booked through via email oshirase@morinokokage.net.