Guys, my Hokkaido trip is coming up shortly. I think I'm going to rent a car just to drive the Muroran-CTS-Sapporo-Otaru corridor, as I think driving on the expressway should be manageable with 95% probability this time of the year. However, I'm still taking the bus to the ski resort area.

So I want to have a firm understanding of what to do with insurance once and for all. I just perused posts #80~120 or so of this thread carefully, especially paying close attention to posts by our car rental expert Beep88. I'm hoping he could chime in again. But anybody else is welcome to advise.

I'm renting from an agency that doesn't have an English version of insurance info. So I'll link this one instead: Regarding Insurance - ORIX Rent a Car Orix's policy is very similar to the place I'm renting from.

Here's what I'm planning to do. Please tell me if I have the right thought process. I have a US-issued credit card. I'm very risk-adverse btw, but also want to save as much money as possible.
- I will probably decline the rental company's CDW (1080y/day), since it seems like all rentals in Jpn inherently include coverage for damage to my car and the 3rd party car (save for 50k yen deductible each for my car and 3rd party car) and my CC will cover the primary collision up to the total cost of the car/damage. The only benefit I get by accepting CDW is that it would exempt me from the 50k deductible for 3rd party damage.
- Even if I change my mind and decide to pay for the rental company's CDW, I'm not really losing anything by effectively waiving my CC insurance benefits. That's because the car rental's inherent insurance coverage + their CDW will offer everything my CC can, plus it will cover other things the CC does not (eg, liability or 3rd party damage and medical).
- I will decline the rental company's NOC, since that is most likely covered by my CC.