The climate is sub-tropical and very moist. The area of Yaku-island has 2,000m mountains such as Mt. Nagata, Mt. Miyanoura, Mt. Taichudake, and Mt. Mocchomu, the highest in southern Japan. That means, interestingly, you can see a mangrove at the sea level and alpine plants on the top of a mountain all in the same day on this small island. This geography supports various species of animals.
Mountains remain covered with virgin forest.
These cedars have been living more than 1,000 years. Each tree is named for a characteristic. Joumon-Cedar is the name of the oldest tree on the island. Joumon is an era of Japanese history occurring about 3,000 years ago. This tree is considered to have lived since Joumon-era.