Kyushu & SW Honshu – Rental Car vs. Train?

5 comments

1. For 5 day converting those distances you aren’t going to have time with anything other than the most major places which can be access easily by public transport.

2. Added charges for a car trip: 20,000 JPY for tourist highway pass, 8,000-10,000 JPY for parking, gas: ~7,500-10,000 JPY.

   Any combination of: JR 7-day pass, or paying out of your pocket for Kagoshima-Chuo to Kumamoto + JR Sanyo-San’in-Northen Kyushu Area Pass (for Mizuho/Nozomi flexibility) would probably work out ~100,000 JPY cheaper.

3. A car is fantastic if you want to go to more remote areas, but definitely *not* for the cost.

   So…. Which routes do you plan to take (as highways only would be no fun) ? what do you plan to visit around the cities you mention that would make a car rental worth it ? Shimoshima ? Unzen ? Shimabara ? Kirishima-Kinkowan ? Amakusa ?

4. My one way charge was around 15000 yen when I rented a car from kagawa in Shikoku to Hiroshima in Chukoku. Your one way charge looks quite excessive. I wonder if that’s because it’s a such a long way for your one way rental?

   5 days with the mileage you’re covering, you’re spending like 1.5 to 2.5 hours per day just moving from point A to point B (with expressway!). Don’t forget dawn is early in Dec as well. I guess it could be worth it if you’re only going to places that are very difficult to reach with public transport and nothing else. But with that price tag, and that you are solo traveling, in the end that does seem a bit too much for 5 days of travelling.

   Just for your reference, I’m traveling at around Dec as well for 8 days and I will only go to Nagasaki and Saga. My rental car is 60000 yen with full insurance and ETC card, and for 2 people, from airport to airport (so full trip).

5. I’d probably recommend sticking the trains rather than renting a car. Not only is renting a car in Kagoshima expensive (always has been – love you Kags) but you’ll be coughing up for highway fees to drive at 80km an hour. That’s the speed on the highways. I mean, you’ll get to visit some nice highway rest stops and stuff.

   The train option is good for the time period you have in Japan. If you stop off for a day or overnight at places where the Kyushu Shinkansen stops you’ll have PLENTY to do. If pressed you could rent a car in a city you’re in for a day / couple hours but places like Minamata and Kumamoto (for a couple of examples) are all pretty walkable. If you’re feeling like some exercise, Minamata Station rents bicycles and there’s awesome paved rail trails you can go riding on through the beautiful hills and villages.In Kumamoto there are trams that’ll take you to town and to the castle etc for ~¥130.

   Another option is to mix it up with the Shinkansen and local trains. For example the local train service between Yatsushiro (on the shink line) and Sendai (ditto) has been rebranded as the Hisatsu Orange Railway. It runs through the northern Kagoshima and southern Kumamoto country side and along the astounding beautiful coastline. Link below hopefully. It stops at a few places that connect it to the shink so you can do all or bits of it.

   Lastly, trimming back on the luggage or takkyubin the big stuff to your final destination and just travel with a little wheelie will help too. There’s a luggage forwarding office / desk at Kagoshima airport.

   Good luck and I’m totally jelly!!

   [Hisatsu Orange Railway](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hisatsu_Orange_Railway)