Japan Guide
Kyūshū
Getting around
Kyūshū is connected to Honshū by road and rail. Trains on the San'yō Shinkansen terminate in Fukuoka's Hakata Station and are covered by JR West's Sanyō Area Pass, with the exception of Nozomi Shinkansen. From Hakata, JR Kyūshū ( 
www.jrkyushu.co.jp ) trains fan out to all the major cities, and the company offers its own three- and five-day rail passes (¥13,000 and ¥16,000) for travelling round the island. These allow unlimited travel on the Tsubame Shinkansen and all local, limited express and express trains, but not JR buses. You can buy the pass in Japan but you must be travelling on a temporary visitor's visa and show a return air or ferry ticket to a destination outside Japan. The Tsubame Shinkansen currently runs from Shin-Yatsushiro, south of Kumamoto, to terminate in Kagoshima in the far southwest. The line between Hakata and Shin-Yatsushiro should be completed in 2011. However, you will still have to change in Hakata for the San'yō Shinkansen.
In the central uplands and southern Kyūshū, you'll be more reliant on a limited number of private train lines and on localbuses. If you're on a whistle-stop tour, you might want to consider one of the three-day SunQ bus passes ( www.rakubus.jp/service/sunq_eng.html ), which offer unlimited travel on most highway buses and local services throughout Kyūshū (¥10,000) or just the five northern prefectures of Fukuoka, Saga, Nagasaki, Kumamoto and Ōita (¥8000). Note, however, that not all bus companies are covered, nor some of the fastest express services between cities. The passes can be purchased at the main bus terminals in Fukuoka, Kumamoto, Nagasaki, Kagoshima, Ōita and Miyazaki.
For exploring the more remote areas, car rental is an excellent option – as elsewhere in Japan, there are car rental outlets in almost every town and in all the main tourist areas.