Do you remember Princess Mononoke?

Silly me.
I was telling myself
'Oh, this is like that anime'
'Oh, that's the deer from Mononoke Hime! With the horns!'
'Oh, the trees, the moss, the dewy, misty scenery...'

I was at Yakushima for 2 days.
This was were I stayed the night.
Check out the staff. One of the guy is SMAP's Nakai's look-alike!
All of them in love with the island. You cannot fake this sincerity.
How else would they be willing to spend time researching and working, taking care of this island and educating people about it? I feel their passion and I am full of admiration for them.

Now I realised the setting for Princess Mononoke WAS Yakushima.
It is really a beautiful place.
I didn't trek the usual places. I was supposed to be part of the seminar team.
We only got to walk around for 1 half hours in Yakusugi Land. The Yakusugi (Cedar Trees) were still considered young.
Yakusugi-s are supposed to be over a thousand years old. So the ones we saw were not really Yakusugi, though they were a few hundred years old.
I was more amazed by the mosses. I thought they looked very beautiful, especially when they sparkle because of the raindrops on them.

It was raining. So we were wearing raincoats, looking like plastic humans invading the nature.

More people are coming to trek here.
Everyone is happy, but we can't have too many people.
It's too much for the natural environment to take.
Trekking up to the Jomon Sugi (7200 years old), takes 5 hours. One way.
Do you know what's the main problem?
Toilet.
How to dispose of the .... human excrement?
It also pollutes the nature.
It is said that rain falls everyday in Yakushima and water flows down from the mountain tops.
Almost like distilled water. 'Soft water'.
Imagine drinking polluted water.
Yuck.
(I am not going to explain or go into detail. It will take too long a post)

Man and Nature in harmony is a very difficult task.