I went to Yakushima Island in Japan, the source drawings for Princess Mononoke. I might’ve seen the movie before but I don’t remember it. I’m not an anime fan. So there you have it. I hope you don’t hate me for it ><.
Why did I go to Yakushima Island then? To get away from it all. Yakushima is off the beaten tourist paths of Tokyo, Osaka, and Kyoto. It’s 1,000 kilometers from Tokyo as the crow flies. As the analogy suggests you can’t even take a walking path there - you either have to take a boat or fly. For boat there are three options via the city of Kagoshima:
1) A night boat by freighter which (surprise, surprise) leaves at night and arrives in the morning. This is the cheapest option at $25 per passenger. If you are a dwarf you can walk on for half the price since you are half the height.
2) A car ferry which takes a little over 4 hours. Passenger fare is $40. Cars are assessed an additional fare by weight.
3) A fast passenger ferry which takes 2 hours. Passenger fare is $85.
Options 1 and 2 only operate one trip per day in each direction, which severely limited my travel options. Consequently, I decided to fly from the “mainland” city of Fukuoka, the largest city on the island of Kyushu. A one-way airplane ticket was a little less than $100.
Flight Options
From Fukuoka there is a direct flight from Japan Airlines that takes 1 hour and 10 minutes, and another flight (also from Japan Airlines) with one stop that connects through Kagoshima - 50 minutes first leg, 3 hour layover in Kumamoto, 30 minutes second leg. Both the direct flight AND 1-stop flight were the same price, however, by the time I made my reservation with less than one month to departure, the cost of the non-stop flight had skyrocketed. Thus, I ended up paying $150 for the 1-stop flight.
The Fukuoka Airport (Domestic terminal) was perhaps the best airport I’ve ever been to. The terminal itself was laid out in an arc-shape reminiscent of TWA’s terminal at JFK Airport in New York City. Check-in counters are located in the central arc of the terminal and surrounding the check-in counters, at either end of the arc, are a great variety of restaurants and shops located both pre-security and post-security. No matter how you arrive at the airport (bus, car, subway, train) or where you get dropped off, you’re never a far walk from the check-in counters or shops. This is one of those airports were there are plenty of things to entertain oneself with if you arrive 3 hours before your next flight.
I spent my time at the Fukuoka airport waiting for my flight at what I call the “writer’s lounge.” It is a bookstore cum cafe with a lounge facing the runway. All the printed materials for sale in the book shop are in Japanese. They sell coffee, drinks and snacks but the lounge is still free to use, with individual armchair/couches and usb outlets and electrical plugs for each. It is a great place to relax before your next flight.
Both legs of the flight were flown using propeller planes. I’ve flown on propeller planes before in Southeast Asia - those are usually not comfortable. Japan Airlines uses ATR planes for these short haul flights. In fact, these flights to Yakushima are not technically operated by Japan Airlines but rather Japan Air Commuter. JAL is a majority owner (60%) of Japan Air Commuter, with the remaining 40% of the company corporately owned by a smattering of cities in Kagoshima prefecture. So Japan Air Commuter can be described as being locally owned and operated.
The planes were very nice; they reminded of snubfighters from Starwars. Very stubby little planes with overhead propellers like X-wings. They packed a punch on take off, like an electric car accelerating from full stop. My whole upper torso was pushed back against the seat as the plane zipped off the runway, such was the force of the acceleration (felt more than a 737 on take off).
The seating inside was also nice - like a train where you can have four seats facing each other. I caught the last flight of the day to Yakushima so there was no one to share my 4-seat compartment with. I felt lonely. Even if I had someone there they wouldn’t speak English anyways, being Japan and all. Nonetheless it was a quick, zippity-doo-dah flight.
Intermission.
(Next up - my actual trip in Yakushima and Mononoke Land).