Yakushima ferry cancellation and flight

Hi there.
I read on wikitravel on Yakushima the ferries to and from Yakushima could get cancelled in case of bad weather. Not sure what "bad weather" means, typhoons or a lot of rain, etc...

But I do not wish to get stranded in Kagoshima or Yakushima. As an alternative I thought of buying tickets for air travel. I take the ferry b/c of the lower rate.

Anyway. How soon would you know the ferry is cancelled anyway?

And about flight tickets, how soon upon departure can the tickets be refunded, minus any administrative fees?

It could be on the day. Certainly typhoons would stop them running but also high-seas/swell could do that (and you don't actually need active wind conditions to have 4+ meter waves).

Alright, well that seems a bit unsure, could it happen any time of the year?

What about flight? Is it possible to cancel it on the day if using the right fare type? Or would I lose all the fare?

Refundable JAL tickets can be refunded up to 10 days after departure.

http://www.jal.co.jp/en/dom/change/normal.html

Alright. Well I was thinking if I cancelled the booking for the flight, not of it was cancelled itself b/c of weather, etc.

I mean, if I had a flight and the ferry is running as usual, finding it out like 8 am in the morning on the flight day, can I still cancel the flight without having to pay 100 % of the ticket?

That all depends on which kind of ticket you purchased. Some are non-refundable.

I've had to reschedule flights with ANA in the past and it was only a week before the flight. The counter at Haneda did the refund for only 60% of the price I paid. Maybe closer to the day the refund may be even less.

Contact the airline to find out the specifics.

Can't seem to find any contact details other than phone (for JAL). I'd rather send an email or something.

All the details are in the link above.

No one can predict the weather 100%. You may have no notice at all about cancellations.

The info you need from JAL is in the link Firas provided in his first response.

Sorry for that, my bad.

Seems like the only well cancellable fares are those done within a few weeks of departure, but then they are of course more than twice the ferry cost.

Since there is only one slow ferry per day, it could get people stranded on Yakushima really....

Say, should I better go with the plane instead? Or what would you have done?

Yes, you could get stranded, and if the weather was really bad, the planes would not fly either. That is the reality of travelling - sometimes you can not get from A to B (especially to a small island).

Even something as reliable as the Shinkansen stops for excessive rain on occasions.