Island of Giant Old Trees

摘要

Yakushima, a spot registered on the World Heritage List, is a circular island off the southern coast of Kyushu. When this reporter got off the plane in May, the airport was surrounded by verdure run rampant, and the air was already filled with the smell of summer. The island, 130 kilometers in circumference and 500 square kilometers in area, is mostly mountainous. A range consisting of more than 40 mountains 1,000 meters or higher, including Mt. Miyanoura, the highest peak in all of Kyushu at 1,935 meters, spans the length and breadth of the island. The vapor from the surface of the Black Current offshore rises up the mountainside, turning into clouds and causing incessant rainfall. Yakushima Island has an astounding annual precipitation of more than 4,000 millimeters in the coastal regions and 10,000 millimeters halfway up the mountains.