I traveled Hokkaido/Osaka/Kyushu so far. The latter two is with kids.

If u go with kids i highly recommend Kyushu. Can rent a car travel everywhere u want. A lot easier to travel around. Public transport in Japan especially with kids not so easy, and expensive if u have more than 1 kid.

i rented toyota Noah. 7 days cost about 130000yen total.

Need international license. Very important. Do not forget to bring, Japanese culture very rigid they wont give u the car if u cannot show the original copy.

Driving there easy level la compared to Malaysian traffic. The road sign very clear, it's like the Japanese very ultra worried u get lost. They even draw the road nicely so u know which lane to follow so u wouldnt have the sudden need to change lane. Malaysia punya traffic really love to encourage ppl to jump lane, last minute turn/exit. The road layout there super well planned and the person who planned it actually drive in the town. Really different than Malaysia where the person who design it macam tak pernah drive on that road ever. Japanese driver also very chill most of the time, always maintain safe distance even if u drive well below speed limit. In Malaysia u drive how fast also u still got ppl cucuk ur backside pressure u to go even faster or they overtake u show their lanciao face beside u before speeding away.

All in all driving in Japan damn easy. The only hard part is parking but only in the city. if u travel outskirt this is non issue. Petrol pump same like Malaysia self service.

Airbnb or hotel more or less the same. I book hotel cos traveling kids i do not want to have another potential headache dealing with house owner and all. And i LOVE staying in hotspring area.

Ya. I also konpius about this. You see the car in front do this, but at the same time i also scare that guy could be Malaysian driver pulling out our special Malaysian driving skills. lol

sometimes crossroad junction with 1 mainroad. The small road merging into mainroad will both also green. This situation i dunno who need to go first.

I arrived Fukuoka straight get car drive to beppu spend 2 night then to onsen town Kurokawa another 2 days. stop yufuin along the way. Finally back to Fukuoka for few more days then balik airport. Do note that car rental u need to return the car during office hour eventhough u book time they say 10pm. And remember to include winter tayar if it's snowing. Damn stress i reached there got sudden snowstorm and i didnt book with winter tayar.

Renting car from day 1 easier for me cos i got a lot of luggage and many kids. It's impossible for me to manage luggage and kids while taking public transport.