Newsletter September/October 2009

Anyone who has taken the Okabu trail from the logging railway on their way to Jomon Sugi would have come across a grand old tree called Okina Sugi (翁杉). It was thought to be around 2000 years old and was hidden beneath a coat of thick green moss. Here is

Is It Safe to Travel in Japan I d Like to Take a Hiking Trip –(function() { var scribd = document.createElement(“script”); scribd.type = “text/javascript”; scribd.async = true; scribd.src = “http://www.scribd.com/javascripts/embed_code/inject.js”; var s = document.getElementsByTagName(“script”)[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(scribd, s); })(); Return to Homepage

Almost everyone who comes to the island goes hiking at some point. If you don’t have any walking shoes, or rain wear, or need a sleeping bag and a mat for an overnight stay in one of the mountain huts – don’t despair. Just about anything you could want can

Here are the road regulations the access road to the Arakawa trail which are now a permanent fixture in the annual hiking calendar. Arakawa tozan bus

Yakushima seeks environment-tourism balance YAKUSHIMA, Kagoshima Pref. — Yakushima Island off Kagoshima Prefecture in 1993 became the country’s first natural site to be entered on UNESCO’s World Heritage list, together with the Shirakami Mountain Range in northeastern Japan. Known for its many large cedar trees and hot springs, Yakushima is

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