Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Closest to Miyanoura is the beach at Isso, not far from the Isso Lighthouse near Cape Ya-
hazu. Another relatively decent beach is Kuriohama, near the village of Kurio in the southw-
est of the island. It, along with nearby Nakama and Sagoshino-hama beaches, however, could
be closed if you're visiting during the sea turtle egg-laying season. Yakushima's most famous
beach area—and it's most famous sea turtle sites—are the beaches at Nagata: the Inakahama
and Maehama Beaches. If there are warning signs posted, you won't be able to walk on the
beach due to the sea turtles.
From Yakushima we have a choice of several different destinations for it is possible to
catch ferries outbound east to Tanegashima, return north to Kagoshima, or continue west to
Kuchinoerabujima. Let's catch one of the twice-weekly ferries to Kuchierabu (the same island
as Kuchinoerabujima, simply another pronunciation and spelling of its name).
“Friendly” Yaku monkeys.
4
KUCHINOERABUJIMA
口永良部島
At its closest point, Kuchinoerabu (
口永良部島
; Kuchi-no-érabu-jima, also commonly re-
ferred to as Kuchi-érabu-jima) is only 7 miles (12 kilometers) northwest of Yakushima, but
the ride on the ferry
Taiyo
from Miyanoura Port takes about an hour and 45 minutes.
Kuchinoerabu's port is at Kanagatake (
金岳
; Kanaga-také), which is adjacent to the largest
island village of Honmura (
本村
; Honmura), where there are three
minshuku
. In each of the
island's other three tiny villages there are one or two more
minshuku
. The total population of
all the villages is about 140 and it's said that the local junior high school has two students.
It's a very small island with twin volcanoes side by side, fairly centrally located on the island's
main section. The volcanoes are the reason most people come to Kuchinoerabu.
The island is oddly shaped and a little hard to describe, but it's almost two islands in one.
One is small, about 1 by 3 miles (1.5 by 5 kilometers) and the other larger, about 3 by 12 miles
(5 by 7 kilometers). They are connected by a half mile-wide isthmus. The island's circumfer-
ence is 30 miles (48 kilometers). Much of the surface of the island is covered in lava beds
