Mononoke Hime no Mori on Yakushima, Japan (© Hiroyuki Nagaoka/Getty Images)

【March 30 2015】Being one of the rainiest places in Japan has its upside: Yakushima, or Yaku Island, hosts lush forests where moss seems to grow on anything that doesn’t move. For centuries, the forests were logged, but in the 1960s the logging ended and much of the forest was replanted. Some of the cedars that escaped the ax are well over 1,000 years old. In 1980, Yakushima received UNESCO World Heritage status, and today, more than 95 percent of the island is protected by the forest service.Explore breathtaking Gallery from the HuluTrip homepage over the past 5 years..