Pon-tan kan (Yakushima Product Promotion Center)

The Yakushima Product Promotion Center, known as Pon-tan kan in Japanese, is named after two citrus fruits introduced from Taiwan in the early twentieth century. Today Yakushima is Japan’s largest producer of ponkan and tankan, both a type of orange. The harvest season for ponkan is from December to January, and for tankan between February and March.

Visitors can purchase cakes, cookies, jam, and juice made from ponkan and tankan at the cafe and shop in the center. Many other locally-produced goods are also for sale, including vegetables, sweets, tea, and spices, some of them produced in the building itself. The center is an ideal place to buy souvenirs.