Yakushima Island--Day One

Today I went to Yakushima with my friend Miyuki. Yakushima is an island south of mainland Japan. It is a Unesco World Heritage Site (Japan's first), due to it's many types of plants and trees. It's plants have been used for medicinal remedies for centuries, and the ancient Chinese characters (kanji) for Yakushima meant "Medicine Island". It boasts over 700 types of moss and 2,600 year old Japanese Cedar Trees. Supposedly, you can find every one of Japan's plants here on this island.


We left at 6 in the morning and arrived at Yakushima at 3pm. It took subway, plane, bus, jet-foil ferry, car and a lot of walking to get us there.






Before we boarded the boat from Kagoshima to Yakushima, we took a pit stop for "Tonkotsu ramen." I hate to be vulgar, but Tonkotsu ("pork bone") ramen is cloudy white. It has a thick broth made with crushed pork bones that have been boiled for hours. This is a local specialty of southern Japan--Kyushu Prefecture. Oishi so! For a brief tutorial on ramen: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramen

This is the entrance to Yaedake-sanso Lodge where we stayed at. We stayed in Japanese style rooms in riverside cabins, all connected by wooden walkways. It was rustic and surrounded by plants and trees. Tranquility.

This is our little cabin.

The lodge grounds.

The hotsprings baths (onsen)...

And more onsen...

Here are some of the staff that were especially endearing...I called the guy in front of me "Little Red".

Our first day was a long one. We got to our lodge, hit the onsen, had dinner, and crashed. The stars were incredible, as there were no street lights around. Luckily, we had three more days to enjoy Yakushima.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yakushima