An Island of Cedar

Yakushima - 11/3 - 11/6

I began writing this blog post on my way home from Kagoshima after the busy but awesome weekend on an island that really feels like it is a different world but it took me a few days to finish writing and a few weeks to manage to type it up. But, here it is!

Welcome to Yakushima!

11/7/11

Ok, it's Monday and after a very tiring day of travel (1.5hrs to the ferry from the hostel, 2.5hrs on the ferry, 5.5hrs on a bus the about an hour in a car) I passed out when I got home then slept as long as my alarm clock would allow. I am so excited about this trip even now that I immediately told the principal at my school this morning all about Yakushima and showed her some of the pictures.

So where to begin? The trip was originally to begin on Wednesday night with me catching the last train down to Miyazaki to spend the night with A then continue then continue the rest of the way on Thursday morning. Well, I waited patiently for the train which was suppose to leave promptly at 7:38 allowing me just enough time to catch the 8:15 train from Oita. And waited. The train ended up coming really late around 7:52 by which time I had given up hope of making my connection and called my friend to come get me from the station, in defeat. The station master still argues that I could have made the connection but I got my refund then brainstormed with my ride until we formulated a new plan to get me to Kagoshima. Meeting my friend A in Miyazaki and still making it to Yakushima in one day was looking to be impossible and and eventually we decided I would just take a bus down to Kagoshima by myself and meet A there to catch the ferry.

yeah... monkeys in the road

Let's get our bearings, A!

As you saw in the beginning of this entry, I had to train to Oita then take a long bus ride to get to Kagoshima but luckily it was not stressful. Well, the stress I was feeling as not directly connected to the bus ride itself, but rather time limitations. The plan was to arrive in Kagoshima at 2:10 at the ferry port so I could catch the (last) ferry at 2:30 to the island with A. Luckily, despite the festival in the middle of the street, I made it to the ferry terminal with about 15 mins to spare and made it to Yakushima with no problems. Of course once we got the island our situation turned a little glum. The sun had mostly set by the time we hit land and since it was past 5 most of the shops and businesses had closed for the night. While we had reserved a hostel in advance, we unfortunately did not realize it would be on the other side of an island much larger than the map led me to predict. (Don't get me started on Japanese map's amazing ability to make one place seem footsteps apart when it is really 50km and another seem oceans away when it is merely a 2min walk). Damn deceptive Japanese maps.

Map of Yakushima,  very top is the port... very bottom is where our hostel was. ;-)

Anyway, the hostel was literally on the opposite of the port where we pulled in and while we were waiting for the (last) bus to take us there, a Japanese approached us. He had overheard us complaining to a couple of other JETs we met while on the ferry and offered to call the hostel for us and see if we could change to one closer to the port. A little confused and desperate, I conceded the phone number (and A's phone) to him and after a lot of 'hmmm...'-ing, the man handed back the phone with a disappointed look.

Time for a break.

We continued to wait for the bus a while longer until he approached us again in his vehicle. Despairing the what we feared would be a 2000yen (about $23) bus ride per person ('luckily' we found out later it was only about 1200yen [$17]) we consented to allow him to drive us to a closer bus stop. Somehow between him chatting my ear off and A nodding off in the back he actually ended up driving us the whole way and as a show of appreciation we paid him 1000yen each as gas money.

The hostel owner, however, was a-whole-nother cup of tea. He was just the kind of person to greet us with a smart-ass remark about how lucky we were to make it. Once we got checked in and the car rental, meal request and payment out of the way he gave us a big smile reminding us how lucky we were to be residing in such a fine establishment and how silly we were to try and change hostels. He smile bespoke of everything but happiness but we will let it slide.

Self explanatory

Friday morning dawned bright and early with us out of the room and on the way to Yakusugi land by 8:30. We grabbed breakfast and snacks at a convenience store (I really recommend you just get meals from where you end of staying if you come to this island - there is very limited selection in terms of... everything) and got started on the trail. Despite the themepark like name, this area of forest boasts 4 "choose your fate" paths which all center around the shortest of the routes darting off in various big loops to see various landmarks. We chose the longest (estimated to take 150mins) and at about the halfway point I left A in a comfy gazebo and continued up the optional mountain path by myself. Although I had estimated about one hour for the trip (the map said it was 2.5km each way), it actually took me about an hour each way as most of the path was straight up. The top was covered in a cloud of wind and rain but definitely fulfilled its promise of big rocks. I climbed up as far as the ropes and footholds would allow me, trying to follow the voices I heard from the other side of the rock, but after almost losing my camera and subsequently my footing to the wind, I gave up and began the descent back down. Honestly, I have not felt real fear in a long time but standing on the edge of a stone precipice with my back against a steep rocky wall and nothing ahead but a steep drop into rocky forest below... Well, when the wind picked up from behind me I was frightened.

A bridge...

Interesting twist to my adventure - as I was climbing down from the rocky mountain face, I found the source of one of the voices I had heard previously. It was a man trying to squeeze between two narrow rock ledges trying to get back onto the path. I offered to hold his pack for him so he could climb back down unhindered and once he landed on solid ground asked how far he had made it up the mountain face. I was beginning to fret thinking I had climbed all that way just to be scared before making it to the top of the mountain (there had been no signs or anything to mark my end point). Well, on our way out of the pass we passed another couple who had stopped to rest (the other source of the voices - man sound echoes in such strange ways in places like that) and when we asked them how far you could climb to the top they assured us that we had actually surpassed the recommended climbing area into experienced only zone so we had made it well past the top of the mountain. I did a little yay dance.

I descended back down the path with 'stuck between a rock and a hard place' boy in tow and met back up with A in what seemed like a very short time. Guess conversation really does pass the time. The day finished without further incident (I won't say uneventfully because I was surrounded by awe-inspiring forests and ancient cedars but once you have saved someone from certain rock squishing doom everything else pales in comparison -haha) around 4 and so with a little time to spare we stopped into the museum at the start of the trail before returning to the hostel for an early dinner.

Top of the mountain day 2

A French couple we met over dinner happened to be planning a trip to the same trail we were planning to visit the next day (the Shiratani Usuikyo) so A and I offered them a ride to save them the bus trip. We agreed to set out at 7 since the drive itself was purported to take 2 hours and although I had spent the day exerting myself I still managed to get a crappy night's sleep. Also, since I couldn't sleep anyway I went ahead and woke up before the sun to take a nice long walk around the part of the island we were stationed on.

Mononoke forest, anyone?

With the sun and the French couple up, we headed out on our second day excursion where we only managed to take a wrong turn once. Japan's ability to make such spectacularly helpless maps made a comeback again. This area of the forest is rumored to be the most spectacular on the island and I can say that despite the rain (or perhaps because of it), I was inclined to believe the rumors.

Yeah, it was heavier than it looks.

 As an aside, the island itself is beautiful in it's own right with the ocean curbing right up onto a shore dotted with dried lava plumes, hidden hot springs and the occasional beach. But with aid of years of preservation efforts, the inner parts of the island lend a rough, rugged look to everything, including the man-made bits with moss covering every surface from the roads to the roofs and trees with giant leaves kept very minimally at bay from the sparsely inhabited coastline (the population of the island is about 30,000 people). The mountains begin almost immediately after the ocean ends giving the whole island a cone-shaped appearance, and the constant threat of rain makes the tallest mountains (about 2.5km) look as though they are covered in a healthy topping of whipped cream. This place is truly a magical rain forest copied through the years in movies like Fern Gully or more aptly, Princess Mononoke.

Mononoke woods!!

That being said, Saturday gave A and me the full experience. We spent the morning and early afternoon trekking through the moss covered cedars all the way to the top of the mountain (which was obvious this time) then split paths slightly on the way back down since I wanted to see a little deeper into the forest. We met again at the bottom of the path with wet clothes and shoes but high and dry spirits. it was a little after three when we finally got the group back together again and after dropping off the French couple at the hostel we continued on to visit a famously beautiful beach on the upper corner of our map. Turns out this is where all the monkeys and deer hang out so we spent some time taking in a bit of the beach (with surprisingly warm water), the sunset and monkey gatherings. We actually had to stop multiple times on the road until we could manage to convince the monkeys to move aside and let our car pass. Yes, you heard me right... the sight of my mechanical machine did nothing to disturb the clearly fearless monkeys (one of whom actually grabbed his package and swung his hips in a very lewd fashion at us). Another quick aside, this is also the only part of the island where you can access world heritage forest areas by vehicle.

beach, ah.

Beach, ocean and spectacular views of the setting sun between bits of natural world heritage forests did not disappoint and I must admit, the island won me over then. A said this would be a nice place to outlast a zombie invasion but I think this would be a nice place to live out the rest of my life. I can't wait to make another trip out to this island.

Sunset, my favorite thing

But wait! The trip is not quite done yet. Sunday morning we planned to set out on the 8 o'clock bus to take us on the almost two hour trip back to the ferry port. Being as we were completely worn out on Saturday night, we passed out before ten and I woke up again for a walk in the morning to say a quiet goodbye to my new love. This was around 5:30 and we had the car rental until 8 so I decided to use the last few hours and drive to an ocean onsen (hot spring) not far form the hostel. Although I tried to wake up A knowing she had really wanted to make it out there, I was unsuccessful and so ended up going alone. Thinking to take some pictures while I watched to sunrise, I grabbed only my camera and parked myself just outside the entrance. Knowing I had missed low tide (the only way to access the pools is when the tide is out) and hoping there would be no lingering bathers I knew I would be unable to actually go into the bath but after about half an hour of watching and taking some pictures, I snuck down and dipped my feet into the water.

Beach-side hot spring.

The water was surprisingly hot (about 47 degrees Celsius according to the thermometer) and my feet felt the best they had felt all weekend. Only when the sun had made it all the way up and my camera battery finally died did I say my farewells to the quiet beach and head back to the hostel. It was a great way to start my way back home (though A was a bit mad at me that I didn't get her down there too) and even when I finally arrived late into Kitsuki I found myself still feeling the lingering effects of my island love and relaxation.


What a magical place. Love. ALSO! Check out this link below... I made a cool video of my pictures. <3