The hook
A near-circular island of mountains and rainforest off Japan's southern tip, drenched in rain and moss, where cedar trees thousands of years old grow in a green half-light that inspired the forest of Princess Mononoke.
01Why it's worth it
Yakushima catches enormous rainfall, and the result is a lush, dripping, deeply moss-covered forest climbing steep granite mountains straight out of the sea, one of the wettest and greenest places in Japan. Its treasures are the yakusugi, ancient Japanese cedars; the most famous, Jomon Sugi, is thought to be thousands of years old, a gnarled giant reached only by a long, hard day's hike up an old logging railway and forest trail. Even the shorter Shiratani Unsuikyo ravine, all moss-cushioned boulders and filtered green light, is extraordinary, and it helped inspire the animator Hayao Miyazaki's forest imagery. Deer and monkeys move through the woods, and the coast has hot springs and sea-turtle beaches. It rains constantly, which is the price of the greenery.
02How to experience it
Come prepared for rain whatever the forecast. Do the moss-forest walk at Shiratani Unsuikyo for the accessible magic, and the long haul to Jomon Sugi if you are fit and have a full day. Soak in a coastal onsen afterwards. Reach it by ferry or a short flight from Kagoshima on Kyushu.
From the locals
Yakushima's best endorsement comes from a thread asking for the single most magical place anyone had travelled to, and the answer is worth quoting whole: "Yakushima, the rain forest island that inspired the anime Princess Mononoke. It's a small, remote island — had to take a propeller plane from the southernmost part of the main islands of Japan. Lush, mossy forest trails, abandoned rail lines, ancient giant trees. True escape."
That is the shape of the place exactly: the effort of getting there is part of what protects it. A separate account from three months travelling Japan outside the usual regions makes the more general point that "the islands in the southwest are definitely underrated" — which remains true, and is why this one still feels remote despite the World Heritage listing.