Let me introduce my new love - Yakushima

A chance on a four day weekend is too good to not exploit and travel somewhere. One of the places that was on the top of my list of things to do before I leave Japan was a visit to an island in the very south of Japan, even below the most southern tip of Kyushu. Its almost on your way to Okinawa. Yet it has the highest mountains of Kyushu (since it still falls under the Kyushu jurisdiction) towering almost 2000 metres straight out of the pacific ocean. It produces mangos in summer and has lots of snow in winter. It rains most days of the year and is home to one of the oldest trees in the world. Welcome to Yakushima, my new love.

I went for three full days, too short but enough to be totally emerged in the beauty of the nature. Some of the highlights were standing at the bottom of huge Ohko waterfall and being soaked and blown away by the power of the spray, Soaking in a natural onsen that is claimed back by the sea at high tide and perfectly hot at low tide whilst watching the sun set, hugging trees that are thousands of years old, watching the clouds open up for a few seconds to give away one of the most stunning views over the valleys and seas below only to be covered in mist again a few seconds later, sitting in (another) hot spring watching the most clear starry night you can imagine whilst talking to good natured local grandparents, standing in a massive moss overgrown tree trunk that is big enough to be someones house with a little river streaming through and a little shrine in the corner and lastly chilling on a huge boulder and putting my feet in one of the clearest rivers you can imagine after an exhausting hike.

A first introduction:









And this is the tree that it's all about: the Jomon-sugi. Some estimations say it is 7000 years old. If that's true, it is way older than say the great Pyramid of Giza. The most amazing thing though is to walk through the forest and feel everything grow around you. New trees grow on old ones, some trees grow into each other and merge, and all of that wrapped in a soft blanket of green green moss.