Last week, like many other times during my stay in Tokyo, I found myself and some friends shuffling through Shinagawa station towards the Shinkansen gates. It was a Friday morning and our agenda was brief: buy a few bentos, a pack of gum and board our train down to Kagoshima. We'd be staying there one night and spending the rest of the weekend in Yakushima; completing weeks of planning and managed anticipation to trek though the island and try to capture some of its fabled magic. I have ...