morning, board the first bullet train of the day, a Sakura service, and you will get to Kagoshima at around 10:50 AM. This trip takes longer than taking the overnight train and bullet train connection as described above, but it is cheaper; you only have to pay for the hotel room, complete with your own toilet and shower.
By bus
Various overnight bus services are available to Kagoshima from Osaka and Kobe (~�10000 one way; ~�21000 round-trip). Tickets for Osaka and Kyoto can be bought from Willer Express's English site for around �7800 each way. Daytime and nighttime buses also run from Fukuoka (yen 5400 one way; 4 hours) and Oita. There are day buses from Kumamoto for about �3600; 3 1/2 hours.
By ferry
Kagoshima is one of Japan's most busy ferry terminals, with a plethora of ferries connecting mainland Japan to its southern islands. For the Okinawan archipelago there's several routes towards Naha which stops on different islands along the way. Operators include Matrix Line and A Line ferry - expect the full journey towards Naha to take around 25 hours, although you can stop halfway through in the Amami Islands. Towards the world heritage site of Yakushima and the island of Tanegashima near Kyushu you can opt for either Orita Kisen (4 hrs, yen 4000) or the Toppy hydrofoils completing the journey in just under 2 hours (yen 7000). Finaly for the Tokara Islands, the municipality operates 2 weekly ferries plying the route in around 7 hours (Yen 6000)
