Newsletter July 2009

Yakushima is famous for its wooden Yakusugi crafts. These are made from Yakusugi tree trunks, often 1000s of years old, which were lying on the forest floor. They are brought down the mountain, sliced into manageable pieces and distributed to craftsmen around the coast. It is an incredibly difficult task to change these chunks

YAKUSUGILAND Yakusugiland is the most accessible of all the trails on the mountain. There are a variety of paths to follow and they are divided according to their estimated duration. As the name suggests there are many yakusugi trees to see including Buddha sugi. All the paths are mapped and

The following documentaries are available to watch here on Yakushima: * Part of a BBC series called Secret Wilderness which comes to Yakushima * ‘Yakushima no Yamashi mori ni ikiru’: an NHK documentary called which follows Takada Hisao, a local man from Anbo, and his work in the forest collecting

The north west of Yakushima is where the UNESCO protected forest reaches all the way to the sea.  SEIBU RINDOH FOREST PATH Location: West coast of Yakushima  Dense vegetation on Seibu Rindoh Forest Path A wild macaque crossing Seibu Rindoh Forest Path Drive, ride or cycle on the meandering road

One of the most pressing environmental problems on Yakushima is the human waste that is produced by thousands of tourists who walk the trails every year. The tanks of waste that accumulate at each of the huts have to be quite literally carried down the mountain on the backs of

Yakushima Newsletter May 2010 Return to Homepage