Well..it's on like Donkey Kong!

Got air tickets in and out, and reserved my rental car through Budget Japan. And picking up at FUK airport (After overnighting in town - get my bearings, get SIM chip)

Arrive Fukuoka late Sept. 13 nights (4 at hotel - on start and end and couple nights at an inn by Seto Island bridge area)...before flying to Okinawa.

So...selecting target campsites and a specific Kyushu route now. Then I'll look at Wester Chugoku. Other then a brief foray into Shikoku from the North...I've decided to leave it out -- too mountainous / curvy for me anyway right now. I may yet even cut that out....if I fly to Hokkaido for a few days instead. A scouting trip for a future longer stay. Haven't decided on this yet.

I've noticed a lot of Kyushu campgrounds are in open fields...and often in a "free camping zone" (Not $$ free, just means no specific site #). Kind of like this - but could be a much larger field with possibly many more tents all crammed together - often in a less attractive area. This is the SNOW PEAK Okuhita campground near Mt. Aso. This one does have specific camp site #s -- at least per their website map. Snow peak is an camp gear vendor. Bought one of their items before in USA but then returned it -- too small. It was quality. A chair I think. Does that mean the CG is quality? This CG actually is sited pretty well...apart from being in just a big field -- with no privacy / tree breaks whatsoever. Not my style of camping. LIke a little more shade. Likely relates to Japan communal style of living / culture. Maybe I will visit just to see their gear store.






Fresh off 2+ months of car camping in California / Nevada....but have to slim down gear cause flying, and planning is not so easy for Japan. There's the language barrier of course. (Thank you Brave browser auto-translate, yes I know Chrome - but I don't want to use Google's snooping browser) But also I have no detailed printed atlas -- like I have with US States (Benchmark Atlases!) or Australia (latter being after Japan). My Japan atlas is more high level. Better then nothing. I will have Budget English GPS in car supposedly...not sure how easy/effective that is. Anyone care to comment?
Then I'll have my laptop (I don't use a SICKphone) which I can use with my external hotspot to use Google Maps/Earth/Rome2Rio, etc...

I've decided not to try and bother reserving anything online for the most part...just drive and go. Which could be problematic on weekends - which are my first two camping days! Because reserving online doesn't seem to be the easiest thing to figure out (I've tried a couple places -- but no dice).... No central website like recreation.gov or reservecalifornia.com (CA State Parks), etc...unless I'm not aware of something.

In some cases I will just call to reserve - if it looks like they speak simple english. LIke my first campsite....run by the SAGA Prefecture. And it is on the North coast...so "easy" to get to. Just drive the highway to the coast, go West..and I'll eventually get there. hahahah! And with a snazzy youtube video with music....hey...I'm sold. Also a slick website with english translation (Not browser translation)


https://www.hadomisaki-camp.jp/



This campground has all 3 styles of Japanese/Kyushu campsites -- private walk-in style, free area style (Seen this in some Australian CGs too), and auto style (Similar to most US campgrounds, campsite right next to your car)

Looks like I'm going counter clockwise. Saga / Nagasaki prefecture first, then Mt Aso, then Kagoshima area (Kirishima NP), then up the Eastern coast to Oita, before heading into Chugoku.

Doing Saga/Nagasaki prefecture has one advantage I realize -- it's a smaller area...so the chances of getting lost / disoriented are even slimmer...and not for long. I will bust my chops there, then head over to the main part of Kyushu. I will not enter Nagasaki City...400,000 people isn't huge and I could probably figure it out, but enough people, I'd rather avoid it. Besides, this isn't a trip to see Japanese big cities, been there done that. Obviously...I will get some exposure...but keep it to a minimum.

In some ways.....I think this is going to be super easy. It seems only more difficult in my mind. The distances are much shorter then in the USA, signs have English quite often. Drove quite a bit on the left side last year in Europe...so used to that (Again). OF course -- it is much more dense then the USA...and density brings complexity. I will have driven in Malaysia for several days prior to landing in Japan - more left sided driving. I drove in Taiwan last year...so a little more attuned to seeing asian characters on road signs. The surface area of KYUSHU per Wiki, is almost identical to TAIWAN. Just realized that. So..I'm going to Taiwan, with Japanese characteristics. Hahahahahah.