Shiratani Unsuikyo Ravine

Shiratani Unsuikyo is a 424-hectare forest on northern Yakushima, sitting between 600 and 1,200 meters elevation and holding more than 550 species of moss. Three hiking courses wind past enormous moss-covered boulders, hollow ancient trees, and waterfalls. The trees exceeding 1,000 years are called yakusugi and exist nowhere else on earth. The four-hour Taikoiwa course ends at a large moss-covered boulder with an open view of Yakushima's central mountain range. This forest is widely believed to have inspired the landscape of Studio Ghibli's Princess Mononoke, and the atmosphere when mist rolls through the old-growth cedar is genuinely otherworldly.