Yakushima island
Yakushima Island is located at the south-west part of Japan. The island is a part of Kyushu-island, one of four major islands consisting Japan. Yakushima is very interesting island. The island is not large, about 130 km in circumference with round-shape, but has many high mountains. The highest mountain is almost 2,000 m above sea level.
The most amazing
is, there are a lot of very old cedars. A couple thousand-year-old cedars are
common. The most famous cedar is called "The Jomon Cedar". The Jomon Cedar is
said to be 7,200 years old. The archaeologists call that time as "Jomon age"
when The Jomon Cedar was "born". ( But some scientists indicate the age may be
younger, not clear yet.)
Anyway, my wife and I have visited the island and
walked and walked to meet The Jomon Cedar. We walked about 11 hours, sometime in
heavy rain, thunderstorm and sunshine. The island has a lot of rain through the
year. Some says they have 370 rainy days in a year (one year is 365 days). Of
course also there are more other interesting cedars. Anyway, my wife has become
a "Yakushimaholic" and she loves to visit again! Well, frankly speaking, me too!
fumi.kobayashi@nifty.com