Visitors go to Yakusima with YES
YES have arranged Yakushima tours, accommodation, activities, car rental and other services for ten of thousands of visitors since 2013 and so rest assured that you have come to the right place should you wish to enjoy a successful trip to our island.
Each request receives our personal attention with a personal reply that is specific to your requirements. We have nurtured our business from handling only a few bookings a week to hundreds of enquiries a day. International visitor numbers have increased dramatically since we commenced business in 2013, but our attention to detail and reliabity remain as constant as it did all those years ago.
YES aim to offer the best possible experience for visitors to Yakushima so that you can enjoy the visit rather than stress about the visit.
Navigating the Path of Sustainable Tourism
We have the pleasure of living and working on Japan`s best example of a natural environment.
Yakushima is a wonderful model of how a society has successfully utilized their surrounding natural environment with a sustainable outcome. However, this lifestyle does not occur easily and both residents and visitors have a responsibility to see that this sustainability continues. Our mission is to encourage sustainable tourism both ecologically and economically.
During a YES tour visitors will learn about the ways our ancestors lived upon Yakushima and also how the current generation strive to minimize their impact on our island.
Should you only require accommodation or rental services then we discourage visitors from using the booking services of international agencies as they may seem attractive and convenient to use, but these agencies have an overall negative impact on our island economy.
We wish to encourage visitors to support the economy of the destination they visit and this is where YES can offer our services to assist in this sustainable endeavour.
YES TOURS
BOOKING SERVICES
Who are YES Yakushima
The co-founder of YES – Steve (the other co-founder being Helen*) – moved to Yakushima in early 2011.
In 2012 Steve & Helen recognized the absence of any organization focused upon assisting the few international visitors to Yakushima. Indeed, many local organizations thought that we were wasting our time aiming the business at the international visitor. However, the early signs of the Japanese government promoting international tourism were evident and we pursued with our hunch that we were on the right track.
By 2016, YES were beginning to recruit a handful of local guides to operate Yakushima tours and the local hotels and other services were beginning to contact us to be added to our website.
YES now operate daily tours with a team of excellent and well-qualified local guides. We also operate the accommodation and rental side of our business handling almost 10,000 bookings a year.
The reviews of Trip Advisor and Google
The reviews and comments written by past guests illustrate the high professional service we provide for visitors to Yakushima and offer an unbiased opinion of our services.
YES Yakushima have ranked as the No1 Yakushima English tour operator for international visitors to Yakushima on Google Reviews and Tripadvisor since 2014.
Reviews often stress the positive difference booking a YES tour would make to your visit to Yakushima or using our booking services to arrange the visit. Reviews also highlight the benefit of employing YES when storms make transport logisitics a nightmare or accidents occur and YES are around to support and offer solutions.
If you’re still not convinced that YES can leave you with a memorable impression of Yakushima then don’t take our word, but the word of the many guests who have chosen YES over the years.
Past guests are not obliged to leave public comments, but we always appreciate the time and effort taken by those previous guests that do so. Guests that have enjoyed their experience on Yakushima and with YES Yakushima services can post their comments as a Google Review or on the YES Tripadvisor page.
100 Amazing Experiences in Japan
The YES team are motivated to excel in the services we provide and we are passionate about Yakushima and the role we play as ambassadors for our island.
In 2019 YES ! Yakushima were nominated by the Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO) to represent Yakushima for their global marketing campaign – 100 Amazing Experiences in Japan.
This campaign is backed by the Government of Japan and has worldwide publicity.
One-stop Yakushima information
Aside from YES tour information and service booking information, the YES website has travel, transport and tourism-related information that will help you have an unforgettable trip to our unique World Heritage island paradise.
Our website also has information about Yakushima and what you can do on the island. Check out the restaurant section, shopping and emergency services. Many visitors to the YES website use it as a reference tool without making any bookings with YES. No problem, as long as you are also aware that the YES website is the tip of a very large iceberg and experiencing the island with a local guide is a far better option!