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屋久島

KYUSHU

YAkushiMA

Natural beauty, ancient forests, and enchanting hiking experiences

About The Island

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Yakushima gained UNESCO World Heritage status on 1993, as a World Natural Heritage Site of Natural Beauty, and among the best in the world.

Among the many hiking trails is Shiratani-Unsuikyo, a lush nature park that's home to ancient cedars endemic to Japan, the paths of Shiratani-Unsuikyo were paved in a way for easy access while maintaining it's natural appearance. And for you Ghibli fans out there you are in for a treat! To my surprise, after I came to the island, I found out that it was also where Hayao Miyazaki frequented several times during the making of the famous animated movie Princess Mononoke, inspiring many sceneries within the film; if you hadn't seen it yet I highly recommend you do before arriving on the island,

As you approach Yakushima, the first thing that stands out is the highest peak in all of Kyushu, Mt. Miyounara-dake. with an elevation of 1,936 m (6.352 ft) above sea level with arms that stretch east, west and south of the circular island.

 Yakushima sees some of the most rainfall in Japan, getting some 200 to 300 mm in a single day; It's not uncommon to have the average annual rainfall of Seattle in just under 48 hours.

Another interesting fact of Yakushima is that the spring water from the island's interior is some of the softest water in the world. The local bottling company, Jomon Sui, claims a hardness of 10 and only 3mg of calcium per liter., to put that into perspective The well known Natural Spring Water bottling company Evian, has a hardness of 291 with 78mg/l.

With all that water there is no shortage of amazing waterfalls to be seen on Yakushima, but if you want to really discover the island you must follow the water upstream, deep into it's mystical forests.

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What we'll go over

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     Everyone is different of course, whether it's how many days you have to travel or how you travel it's your vacation so accommodate to where you are most comfortable. But for me, I found that this sort of trip can be accomplished in a day (not to include the day of arrival or departure, you want one full day for the island itself) with plenty of time to take in all the sights. even though I initially got on the wrong bus, which took my morning to explore the forests away.. despite that I still had plenty of time to enjoy myself. Had I had more time I would definitely explore the other trails on the island, should you find yourself longing for more I highly encourage you to explore further.
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On this page we will be going over the following:

  1. How to get to the island
  2. Lodging
  3. Environmental Culture Village Center
  4. Food
  5. Shiratani-Unsuikyo

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A brief video of Yakushima

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How to Get to the Island

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     The journey begins in the shadow of Sakurajima, a titan of a mountain that towers before the port city of Kagoshima. You can either get to the island by plane or by jetfoil. Consider flying if you're time constrained, prefer the convenience, or prone to seasickness. If you want to be more adventurous take the Jetfoil, it takes a bit longer but you get to see Sakurajima up close and it's an impressive site no doubt. I don't recommend the ferry unless you're on a serious budget or taking a car, just because it won't be a comfortable ride and you're stuffed into a large room with no windows, they do have cup noodle vending machines though for the journey.

I strongly discourage squeezing Yakushima into a packed itinerary without one or two buffer days between travel from Yakushima and any international flights. For domestic travel, JAL and ANA are usually very helpful rearranging flights, but international carriers are usually not so accommodating.

Boats and planes to/from Yakushima get canceled pretty frequently. From June through October, there is a more likely possibility of travel to the island being canceled. Fog can force any flight to turn back before touchdown, and storms can create rough seas for several days.

There are typhoons and there are Typhoons. Some of them aren't too strong and, to some extent, Yakushima can be nicely calm just after a typhoon before most of the tourists come back. However, if it's a strong typhoon, it would be reckless to put yourself in danger by leaving mainland Japan.

Typhoon season lasts from July through November.

Monsoon season lasts from mid-May through the start of July (usually) . As the monsoon season picks up, torrential roads make trails and mountain roads unsafe and hiking is often canceled. However, Yakushima is Japan's premier nesting site for sea turtles and this is during the sea-turtle egg-laying season, so many people are happy to take the risk for a chance to see the sea turtle miracle (Reservations and/or transportation arrangements or accommodation near an egg-laying beach recommended.) Before you go thinking that you can avoid all storms by visiting outside of monsoon and typhoon season, note that there can be blizzards in the mountains from November through April..
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JETFOIL

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     A Jetfoil is a passenger-carrying, waterjet propelled craft that gets a dynamic lift from the sea water, also referred to as an "Airplane in the Sea". It could take you anywhere between 2-3 hours to get to the island depending on which Jetfoil you book in accordance with their schedule. Things to consider are below:
‍• Book a Jetfoil ahead of time, costs can vary depending on the season.
• Book tickets @Http://www.yakushimatravel.com/ticket-english.htmlThey do charge a small 500yen service fee, which I recommend if you are not proficient in Japanese or have someone going with you who is.
• Booking 2 weeks in advanced will incur you a DISCOUNTED price.
• Regularly check the weather for warnings ahead of time. Depending on the weather, trips via Jetfoil can be either delayed or canceled. If the latter happens then no worries, your ticket can and will be refunded.
• There's a fuel surcharge, no way of getting around it.
• After booking your trip you'll be given a reservation number through email, if you chose to book through the link above, save it and simply bring it to one of the customer service reps at the Jetfoil building and they'll hand you your boarding pass.

Prices can vary depending on the season but you'll be looking to spend around the following:
Ferry roundtrip costing 9,000 JPY is 4 hours long
Jetfoil roundtrip (7-day validity) 15,000 JPY is 2 hours long
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PLANE

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     You do have the option to fly to the island, but most of the time it will cost more, check regularly for discounted prices as they can sometimes drop to offers below that of Jetfoils. Due to fluctuations in airfares with seasonal promotions and discounts I can't provide an exact estimate, you'll have to check the airline at the moment of reading this.

Flights are operated by Japan Air Commuter and you will have to go to their SITE in order to book the tickets to the island as most search engines won't bring up the route.
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Flying roundtrip 14,000 - 35,000 JPY (Departs out of 3 cities)
• Kagoshima -> Yakushima 35min
• Osaka-Itami Airport -> Yakushima 1hr 35min
• Fukouka -> Yakushima 55min
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Those are the only 3 cities that fly to the island currently. The Osaka and Fukuoka flights operate once a day and Kagoshima has several fights per day. The Airport you arrive at on the island is about 9km, a 10-15 minute drive, to Miyounara where the Jetfoil would have taken you.

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     depending on your circumstances and priorities you may prefer one over the other. My preferred method was the Jetfoil and I'll be going over the process of that below under the scenario that you've just arrived to Kagoshima by plane and you're on your way to the docks to catch the Jetfoil.

Airport limousine bus takes approximately 40-55 minutes to get from the airport to central Kagoshima at the cost of 1250 JPY for adults and 630 JPY for children. After exiting the airport you’ll find these ticket machines on the left. You purchase your ticket at these machines or at a ticket office.

When you enter the bus put your ticket into the fare collection box next to the driver’s seat. Should there be any issue with getting a ticket, as a last resort you can pay on the bus. Buses for Kagoshima city depart from bus stop No.2 at the Airport. Hand your luggage to the baggage servicemen and if they speak to you they said something along the lines of “Where are you going?” You will reply with “Kagoshima Tenmonkan”.

The main destination for this route is Kagoshima Chuo station but you want to get off at Tenmonkan, which is a shopping district (good spot to stop and eat before moving on). It’s closer to the ports where the jetfoils are docked and, in my opinion, the walking distance isn’t bad only about 20 minutes.

If your luggage is too cumbersome then just take a taxi.

Now depending on your arrival time you may have some extra time on your hands. During this moment you can get some great shots of the Sakurajima volcano, an active volcano, can't miss it the dang thing is huge. You also have the option of going to the Aquarium a few minutes away, especially great for those traveling with children, admission is inexpensive and will keep you busy for a few hours.

Lodging

     There is a range of accommodations on the island but the best hotel for my needs that I found, was at the "Sudomari Minshuku Friend". It's a Guesthouse and they have 2 separate buildings across the street from one another. Upon checking in with the desk clerk they'll guide you to where you'll be staying if you arrive at check in hours, if you arrive earlier you can drop your things off with them and they'll show you when you return during check-in hours. They also provide you with an illustrated map of the local area, keep it handy as it is very useful.

This guesthouse is a 10-minute walk away from Miyanoura bay and Yakushima Airport is a 20-minute bus ride away.

The property offers the following amenities:
• Free WIFI
• Free Parking
• Non-Smoking Rooms
• Air Conditioning
• Flat-screen Tv (it's a tiny one)
• Laundry at an additional charge
• Shower
• Shared Kitchen
• Shared Toilet

A super market is located 11-minutes away by foot, there are also several restaurants that take about 5-minutes to get to. If this sounds good to you, then again I highly recommend this place, if not there are still plenty of great options you can find on booking.com.

Enviromental Culture Village Center

 I recommend that you make a stop at the Yakushima Environmental Culture Village Center after you're settled in. It's a museum that shares comprehensive information about the history,  habitat, and everything you'd want to know about Yakushima and the surrounding islands.

open:
from 9:00AM - 5:00PM (Entrance closes at 4:30pm).
Closed:
Every Monday, and if the Monday is a national holiday then the following day will also be closed.
Fees:
500 JPY for Adults and for children under 6 it's free

There is a theater in the building that gives a introduction to the island through a 25 minute video called "Yakushima, Symphony of Forest and Water" shown every hour starting at 9:20AM.
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The most interesting display they had, to me, was an exhibit of the entire island of Yakushima placed in the center of the room. It had a neat function where you could select, from a list of locations on the island, a button and after pressing it a light will flash to precisely where to find it..

As previously mentioned, Yakushima's precipitation is so heavy that it is said to "rain for 35 days a month". You can see this through the topographical model, located in the center of the hall, and the "rainfall chandelier" hanging from the ceiling.

I also recommend acquiring a brochure while you're here that will have all sorts of useful information on it, including all the hiking trails.

Food

     I found that most restaurant options at Miyounara are too expensive and not worth it, but there is one place I recommend that has a good selection of cuisine and a fantastic view of the pier it's a sushi spot called "Ku"; just a heads up though, food proportions are small so if you're looking to get full don't go.
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There's no restaurant I found that serve Breakfast but Lunch hours are usually 11am - 2pm and they all remain closed until 6pm for Dinner.
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If you're caught between the hours of Lunch and Dinner or need some BREAKFAST go to Hotto Motto "ほっともっと屋久島店". They make a variety of boxed style cuisines that taste fantastic and are open from 7am to 9pm daily, one of the the few places that don't have bizarre hours.

There are also 2 grocery stores in Miyounara that you can pick up snacks at....

Shiratani-Unsuikyo

     You'll want to begin your trek very early in the morning because the route to and back the peak of the mountain will take the whole morning and likely half your afternoon. Bus routes to Miyounara operate almost every 2 hours costing 1100 yen, roughly $8 USD, round trip. The last bus leaves at around 4pm, you don't want to miss it.

You should have already seen the Shiratani-Unsuikyo trail above; I know it's hard to read, but it's the same map you get from the Environmental Culture Village Center. If you recall when I mentioned about missing the bus... don't be like My friend and I and get on the wrong bus taking us way south, we ended up spending most of the morning trying to figure out how to get back, stopped by a store and bought ponchos as that previously mentioned rain came in. Fortunately, as luck would have it, whilst walking back a local saw us hitch hikers and helped us out, a wise old man who was very friendly, despite the language barrier, we originally only requested if he would be so kind as to take us back to the town but he had gone above and beyond and took us all the way up to the Shiratani making a few stops recommending we take some nice photos.

Let's get back on track, As you may have noticed on the map there are markers with numbers on them, as you traverse the path you'll see these markers to let you know where you are. It took us about 20 minutes to get from 1 to 6, to give you an idea but it's a rather flat path with minimal incline. After point 6 you'll start using those glutes, it's fine if you use the branches as support if you need to just be sure it's sturdy.

If you've got the time you can explore the side paths but I chose to stay on the Kusugawa hiking trail, the path in green. That trek alone from 1 to 16, 16 has a fantastic view by the way, took us 4-5 hours to and back; we did need to pick up pace towards the end though as it was starting to get late and buses back to the town would soon arrive.

And after a long day of hiking you can add to that and relax/recuperate at an onsen, Jomon no Yado Manten <http://www.arm-manten.co.jp/onsen/index.html> would be my go to, open until 10pm. A perfect way to end your visit to this amazing island.

With that, we have covered the basics to Shiratani Unsuikyo. This place is a quintessential destination for any and all who call themselves an adventurer even hiking enthusiasts. It's a opportunity to experience a moment you'll never forget, I know I wont, as I wrote this I can't help but feel nostalgic of that day with my friend and remember it as if it were yesterday a precious memory I will keep always.