I suppose the weather is par for the course at this time of year, but your photos convey the extreme wind really well. It’s quite fun to try and photograph weather, but I don’t find it at all easy to do so.

I slightly expected the scenery to remind me of Yakushima, but it looks bleaker (no trees to speak of?) in spite of being more southerly and presumably more sub-tropical. It does look similarly mountainous, so I suppose access to the hinterland is limited. My short time on Yaku provided the most lasting memories of my visits to Japan, because of the scenery, the food, the range of climate/vegetation types and inevitably, the plants!

These photos were taken at the most northerly point of the island, exposed to all the winds, which perhaps explains the lack of trees. There’s certainly no lack of trees and interesting vegetation on the island, as subsequent posts will certainly show. —Jeffrey