Greetings from paradise. It’s name is Yakushima, and it’s a little subtropical island located about 4 hours south of Kyushu by ferry. It’s where Miyazaki Hayao and his fellow animators from wonderful Studio Ghibli went to get inspiration for drawing the magical forests (and it’s creatures) of their masterpiece Mononoke Hime (Princess Mononoke). And it’s so beautiful here, even without having set foot into the magical forests yet, we’re already suffering from reality detachment syndrome. Big time. Our tiny minds just fail to compute so much beauty.
After leaving Hiroshima on the beloved Shinkansen, we spent half a day and night in Kumamoto on Kyushu, Japan’s southernmost (main) island. We visited famous Suizenji Koen (very beautiful) and Kumamoto Castle. Our hotel room was rather forgettable, though, as was the Italian dinner we treated ourselves to (I could kill for some real cheese by now, believe me).
Suizenji Koen
Kumamoto Castle
Yesterday, we left Kumamoto and rode the bullet train even further south to Kagoshima. (The Japan Rail Pass is the best thing ever, by the way, make sure to get one, everyone who’s about to travel Japan.) Kagoshima has been in the news these last couple of days due to its resident active volcano, Sakurajima, suddenly deciding to become a little bit more active than usual. When we arrived, there was still ash lying in the streets, and we even got to see the volcano breathe some more giant dark clouds while we were there. A great sight, no wonder the locals love (worship, even) their Sakurajima.
Bags of ashes in the streets
Sakurajima breathing clouds
By vegetation and architectural style alone it was easy to notice we’re in subtropical climate by now. We spent the night in the dormitory of a lovely little hostel near the port, where we even played some music with other travelers (even though I still don’t have my voice back, sniff). The hostels are so nice here – clean, safe, quiet, and so much more embracing, friendly, and warm than the hotels we stayed at (where you never get to establish any contact with fellow travelers to exchange stories, pictures, and, in Kagoshima’s case, even music). We even got treated to our own little private fireworks show. Even though our dinner choice was basically the worst on this trip, we left Kagoshima with fond memories this morning, when it was time to board the ferry to Mononoke island, I mean Yakushima.
After a bumpy, unpleasant (and, in my case, body liquid involving ways of getting seasick) 4 hour ride on the ferry, first accompanied by beautiful giant seagulls, and then HOLY SH*T THERE’S JUMPING DOLPHINS (sorry for the capitalization, but HOLY COW, DOLPHINS!!!), we reached fairy tale country.
On the ferry to Yakushima
Our hostel is lovely yet again, we even got to do a little veggie barbecue on the (seaside) terrace, along with some local sweet potato shochu (quite delicious). Also, we’re the only non Japanese guests here, and my guess would be there’s only a handful of international tourists on all of Yakushima. The island is well known among Japanese travelers, but not really a popular destination for international tourists. Who knows why, but let’s hope it stay’s that way and this quiet little paradise will never get overrun by hordes of tourists, shall we. We took the (probably 40 years old) bus to what has to be one of the most beautiful beaches on the planet: Crystal clear (warm) water, no jellyfish, no alga, nice surf, chilled people (who ended up driving us back to our hostel because we missed the last bus) – it was so beautiful, we did not know how to cope.
Isso beach
Tomorrow we will walk under the trees that inspired Mononoke’s forest, and as you can probably imagine (at least if you know us a little bit), we’re already super hyped and excited. We will spend the night on the other side of the island close to a natural seaside onsen. On Sunday, we hope to do some canyoning or waterfall climbing, depending on if we can locate a guide.
Off to bed, first night in paradise, and I already feel like moving here …