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Yakushima NP, Kagoshima
Claim this place to tell your story your way.
The old forest railway is more than scenery: trolleys still carry waste out from mountain toilets, and the line is used in rescue operations. Hikers may need to step aside when one passes.
From Arakawa, hikers follow rails begun in 1922 for the 26-km Anbo Forest Railway, built to haul timber to Anbo port. Trolleys also carried supplies and Kosugidani residents—not just logs.
About 50 minutes up the track, Kosugidani was a forest town of 540 people in 1960; more than 150 children attended its school. Its logging office closed in 1970, but the school site remains beside the trail.
