Seasoning the Seasons

S4 E5: Yakushima: Island of Primeval Forests

The ancient natural environment on Yakushima Island, in Kagoshima Prefecture, is registered as a World Heritage Site. It is said that rain falls 35 days in a month on this island. Yakushima is located about 65 kilometers south of Cape Sata, the southernmost part of Kyushu. The island is about 30 kilometers in diameter, and is almost entirely mountainous, with 2000-meter high mountains towering above the shoreline. The island's forests are home to trees more than a thousand years old. The mountains and the rain. The people and their prayers. This is the story of life in Yakushima.