{"id":34252,"date":"2016-01-13T14:39:45","date_gmt":"2016-01-13T13:39:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/peregrinusmundi.com\/yakushima-dans-les-pas-de-miyazaki\/"},"modified":"2020-07-12T18:23:03","modified_gmt":"2020-07-12T16:23:03","slug":"yakushima-in-the-footsteps-of-miyazaki","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/peregrinusmundi.com\/en\/yakushima-in-the-footsteps-of-miyazaki\/","title":{"rendered":"Yakushima, in the footsteps of Miyazaki"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Early in the morning of Tuesday, January 5, a ferry took me four hours sixty kilometers south of Kyushu, on the island of Yakushima. Located in the Osumi archipelago, the island has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1993. The environment of Yakushima greatly inspired Hayao Miyazaki for the making of Princess Mononoke<\/em>. Yakushima is mainly made up of mountains covered with a lush primary forest sheltering an impressive number of \u201csugi<\/em>\u201d, Japanese cedars, called \u201cyakusugi<\/em>\u201d, some of which are thousands of years old. Yakushima\u2019s oldest and best-known cedar is located in the center of the island, around an hour’s hike. Called “J\u00f4mon sugi<\/em>“, it is said to be around 7000 years old (according to scientific estimates: 2300 years) and therefore dates from the J\u00f4mon period. The J\u00f4mon period covers the prehistory of Japan ranging from 15,000 to 300 years BC. J.C.<\/p>

Nature in Yakushima is particularly abundant: many flowers, hundreds of rare mosses, 1900 plant species and subspecies … All this abundance results from the fact that the island is one of the wettest places in Japan. It rains there almost every day. A local proverb even says “it rains 35 days a month in Yakushima”. This turns out to be true since I arrive under a gray sky and a humid atmosphere. I do a little tour in the port village of Miyanoura located on the north coast of the island and where my hostel is located. The sky is threatening but I still decide to go see Inaka-hama beach, located on the northwest coast. Between May and July, the beach is filled with sea turtles who have come to lay their eggs. I need an hour by bus to reach the beach and I spend them chatting with the very friendly bus driver, Keiji. Fifty years, all smiling and full of spirit! I arrive at the beach at the end of the afternoon, in really gloomy weather. But that does not detracts me from the beauty of the place. Peaceful atmosphere, gurgling birds, white sand, turquoise blue water, palm trees and shells, a true paradise. I walk the beach looking for shells, stroll around the Soyotei ryokan, a traditional inn dressed in black, with fascinating architecture (white stones are placed on the roofs contrasting with the black walls) and spend a long moment to fix the sea. I feel perfectly well here. Alas, night falls and I have to go back. Return by bus again with Keiji and stop at the only supermarket in the area to buy my meals for the days to come.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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