Yakusugi Forest, Yakushima Island, Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan

Yakushima (屋久島), one of the Ōsumi Islands, has an area of about 500 km² and a population of roughly 15,000 and lies to the south of Kyūshū in Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan. The Vincennes Strait (Yakushima Kaikyō) separates it from Tanegashima. The highest point on the island is Miyanoura-dake at 1,935 metres (6,360 ft). It is covered in dense forest noted especially for old growth Cryptomeria trees known as sugi in Japan and magnificent rhododendrons.
The island forms part of Kirishima-Yaku National Park. In 1980 an area of 18,958 ha was designated a UNESCO Man and the Biosphere Reserve. In 1993 10 ha of wetland at Nagata-hama was designated a Ramsar Site. It is the largest nesting ground for the endangered loggerhead sea turtle in the North Pacific. Yakushima's unique remnant of a warm-temperate ancient forest has been a natural World Heritage Site since 1993. In the Wilderness core area (12.19 square kilometres (3,010 acres)) of the World Heritage Site, no records of past tree cutting can be traced. Yakushima is Japan's wettest place, and precipitation in Yakushima is one of the world's highest at 4,000 to 10,000 mm. It is said to rain "35 days a month". There are drier periods in autumn and winter, while heaviest downpours occur in spring and summer often accompanied by landslides. It is the southernmost place in Japan where there is snow in the mountains, often for months, while the ocean temperature is never below 19°C.
The Yakusugi Forest is visited by 300,000 tourists every year. It is said to have inspired the forest setting in Hayao Miyazaki's film Princess Mononoke. The island was also seen in the 1996 movie Rebirth of Mothra.