YOUR OPINION

Expansion of Yakushima Airport and the introduction of jet aircraft to Yakushima

We ask visitors to voice their opinion regarding jet aircraft flying to Yakushima.

The current Yakushima Airport has a runway length of 1,500 metres. The short distance of the runway means that only propeller aircraft are able to operate in and out of Yakushima. There are flights from Kagoshima, Fukuoka and Osaka. There are no flights from Tokyo because the fuel capacity of propeller aircraft cannot travel this distance. Tourists who wish to fly direct from Tokyo are required to fly via Kagoshima Airport and then transfer to the local Kagoshima – Yakushima flight with usually a waiting time of 1 – 2 hours.

The Yakushima Town Council are convinced that extending the current runway of Yakushima Airport to 2,000 metres (an extension of 500 metres) so that jet aircraft could operate in and out of Yakushima will improve the future prospects for the island. Approval for the runway extension has been given and construction on the new airstrip shall commence in the near future. The Yakushima Town Council would like to have jet aircraft using the runway by the year 2034. They propose to commence jet flights from Tokyo and possibly, in the future, other East Asian destinations, although there would be immigration problems and issues with this latter proposal.

Similar to the whole country, Yakushima is facing a de-population crises. In the 1960`s, the island population was around 25,000 residents. As of 2026, the population is around 11,000 residents and by 2040 the population forecast is expected to be around 8,000 residents. Less residents mean less taxable revenue and therefore less facilities and amenities for the island residents. The problem is real and very evident in rural communities of Japan. The Yakushima Town Council believe that the millions of dollars spent on developing the Yakushima Airport shall help solve the financial issues facing the local government and residents of Yakushima.

Although it is now too late to stop the extension of the Yakushima runway, we believe that there is still time to convince the Yakushima Town Council that allowing jet aircraft to fly in and out of Yakushima will be a detrimental development and the current modes of transport (propeller aircraft and ferry) are adequate and in keeping with the `green` image the same Yakushima Town Council wishes to promote. The Yakushima Town Council are convinced that tourists want to fly on jets to our island, but we are convinced that tourists would not wish to fly on jets to Yakushima.

YES call upon previous visitors, present visitors and future visitors to show their opposition or support of the plan to commence jet aircraft flights to Yakushima by sending their opinion directly to the Yakushima Town Council.

The major points of the argument

Argument FOR jet aircraft to Yakushima

Convenient for visitors traveling from Kanto (Tokyo) and potentially from East Asia. Currently, Kanto visitors would fly to Kagoshima and then transfer to a propeller aircraft for a 30 minute flight to Yakushima. Direct flights may save 1 – 2 hours.

The convenience of flying directly to Yakushima may increase tourism and help local businesses.

Island residents can fly direct to Tokyo rather than transferring at Kagoshima Airport.

Direct access to Tokyo may encourage more people to move to Yakushima and help with the island`s decreasing population issue.

Direct access to Tokyo will allow Yakushima produce to arrive to Tokyo quicker.

Extending the runway an extra 500m shall increase the safety of the airstrip allowing aircraft a 25% increase of surface to land upon.

Argument AGAINST jet aircraft to Yakushima

Increase of noise and carbon pollution. The propeller aircraft currently operating can be heard from up to about 2km from the airport. Jet aircraft generate a noise well beyond this 2km range. A hike in the forest with the noise of a jet taking off from the airport is probably not what the tourist considered when planning their visit to our island. The Yakushima Town Council are very keen to promote Yakushima as a 'zero-carbon` island and yet they cannot recognize the contradictions to this `green` policy by introducing jet aircraft to operate from Yakushima.

An increase in tourism may initially appear helpful to an island with a decreasing population problem, but it would add a greater strain on environmental maintenance and de-value the merits of Yakushima. Over-tourism has become a major concern in Japan in recent years and as the National Government attempts to draw visitors away from the major tourist destinations to the lesser known destinations then this will inevitably have a detrimental impact on our island. An increase in tourism for Yakushima would mean an increase of hotels, buses, cars, more roads and the unfortunate continuation of trail deterioration in the forest and mountains.... Basically, the current island would need to change to cope with this increase of tourist numbers. Hotels and businesses already have problems recruiting staff under the current conditions, so plans to increase tourism are doomed to fail due to ever-increasing staff shortages. Staff shortage is not just an island issue, but a national issue, so recruitment from the mainland is not as easy as one would expect.

The majority of Yakushima residents have a neutral opinion about the airport development (most feel powerless to change anything either way). Yakushima residents can currently travel to Tokyo via a transfer at Kagoshima. Enticing people to move to Yakushima by spending millions of dollars on a runway is not an efficient way of spending the taxes of the citizens. Those that wish to move to Yakushima are looking for a life AWAY from the big city and are unlikely to consider swift access to Tokyo as a reason to move to Yakushima.

Support for local businesses is important and should be encouraged, but the large expense of the airport development because a box of produce needs to arrive to Tokyo two hours before it would usually be delivered is a very debatable use of public funds. With an island population about to drop below 10,000 residents then the expense per resident is unjustifiable. Japan has an incredible national debt crises (largest in the world) and this kind of project is typical of the root causes of this national debt crises. The Yakushima Town Council will cite that the financing for the airport is from national and regional budgets, but this argument just moves the burden somewhere else without acknowledging the fundamental causes of the reason why Yakushima (and Japan) is in the dire situation they find themselves - fiscal irresponsibility.

Flight safety is of paramount concern, but thankfully thus far, Yakushima Airport has never had a major aircraft accident and so the argument that the runway extension shall increase safety on an already safe runway disqualifies this point of concern.

The recent construction of a military air base about 30km north of Yakushima (Mageshima) means that in the future military aircraft could utilize the extended airstrip. Officials are keen to deny the airstrip is being extended for military use, but ....

A survey carried out in 2025 by the Yakushima Town Council received opinions from 1,753 tourist respondents. 9.4% of the respondents were dissatisfed with the current transportation system to / from 26.3% expressed no opinon and 64.3% responded that they were satisfied with the current modes of transportation to Yakushima. And yet, we are told by the Yakushima Town Council , tourists want to fly to Yakushima on jets from Tokyo.

The Opinion of the International Visitor matters

The Yakushima Town Council have managed to convince the island residents that visitors to Yakushima wish to fly directly from Tokyo on jet aircraft and in our experience, when discussing the issue with thousands of international visitors, we have discovered that the opposite opinion is true. There are very few international visitors who feel comfortable about being the cause of changing the current access situation on their behalf. We believe that it is essential that the Yakushima Town Council are made aware of the opposition that has thus far been silent due to the inability of international visitors to express their opinion. As the number of international tourists continue to rise so that they currently amount to around 40% of the total number of visitors to Yakushima, then the opinion of the international visitor carries a lot more weight then it has done in the past. And as the airport extension is being built for the convenience of visitors then your opinion matters.

Please complete the questions below and write a short comment in the box provided. When you submit the form it shall be sent directly to the Yakushima Town Council.

YOUR OPINION FOR THE FUTURE OF YAKUSHIMA