Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
3
YAKUSHIMA
屋久島
Bring your raincoat because the locals boast that in Yakushima (
屋久島
; Yaku-shima) “It
rains 35 days a month.” In fact, it is Japan's wettest place—and one of the wettest in the
world with annual precipitation ranging from 5,000 to 10,000 millimeters (16-30 feet or 5-10
meters). For comparison, Mt Waialeale on Hawaii's Kauai Island, often cited as earth's wettest
place, receives 39 feet (12,000 millimeters) per year. Rain or shine, Yakushima is considered
one of Japan's most beautiful islands and it is a true nature-lover's destination. Over 90 per-
cent of Yakushima is forested and a good percentage of the island has either been designated
a UNESCO World Heritage Site or is a protected zone under Japanese law.
Mageshima, a small, low-lying islet to the northwest of Tanegashima.
Yakushima Iwasaki Hotel.
Geographically speaking, Yakushima is an almost perfectly round disc of an island, 16
miles (26 kilometers) in diameter and 195 square miles (505 square kilometers) in area. Its
82-mile (132-kilometer) circumference is entirely ringed by a road—and that's about the only
road on the island for the interior is steeply mountainous and covered in forest. Count on at
least three hours to encircle it by car and easily a whole day if you make a lot of stops along
the way. As you drive, you will undoubtedly come across some Yaku monkeys (
屋久猿
or
ヤ
クザル
;
Yaku-shima-zaru
or
Yaku-zaru;
Latin:
Macaca fuscata yakui
), a type of macaque; and
Yaku deer (
屋久鹿
;
Yaku-shika
; Latin:
Cervus nippon yakushimae
). There's an estimated 7,000
of each of them. Both are small and not afraid of people. In fact, the monkeys can be down-
right aggressive, so take care not to approach them too closely as they can viciously bite.
