Yakushima - Rest Area Rendezvous

It rains 365 days a year on Yakushima

Spring blossums

Inside rest area

Sights of interest

Green area is UNESCO National Park

Rest area - meeting place

Deer are quite tame and friendly

More Yakushima

Well maintained trails

A UNESCO National Park since 1980

You walk by trees felled from the medieval period

A tree at the rest area or what?

It's a phone booth!

Yakushima - A walk in nature

Stump of Momi - Yakushima

The stump is 455 years old. Many of the magnificent temples and shrines in Japan have used ceder trees from Yakushima from medieval times. It is forbidden to take anything from the nature park on Yakushima island. Even if a tree is felled naturally, it may not be removed without special permission. Walking in the forest, you can see where the craftsmen of old times were there cuts left off. Almost as if it was yesterday.

Butsudan - Shop in Yakushima

A nice addition to a home. Only $8,900. The Butsudan is found in many Japanese homes. It may seem expensive but the wood is from Yakushima so it is quite precious. There is no tree cutting permitted on the island. Any wood products must be from naturally felled trees. The trees cannot be removed without permission.

Lunch on Yakushima - Flying Fish

The flying fish is fried and quite good. You can eat every part of the fish, including the wings and the head. The meal was served in a traditional Japanese tea house with customers sitting on tatami mats on cushions with low tables.

Yakushima - A Place of Natural Beauty

Shinto Shrine to Nature Gods

A World Natural Heritage Site for All Generations

Local Souvenir Shop - Samurai Spider Man

Refreshing Spring Mountain Water

Senpiro-no-taki Waterfall - Yakushima

Kagoshima to Yakushima

Sea Route

Getting boarding passes

Waiting for hydroplane boat

Boarding time

Leaving port

No moving around inside a hydroplane boat - like being inside a plane

Sakurajima island

Yakushima!

Hydroplane submerged