Kyushu advice

Hi All

I am planning a 10D9N trip to Kyushu.

I have checked the japan-guide suggested itinerary, which suggested 1 day per city. I am not too fond of that.

I have instead thought of doing this:
Day 1 & 2 - Fukuoka
Day 3 & 4 - Nagasaki
Day 5 & 6 - Mt Aso & Kurokawa - overnight at Kurokawa
Day 7 & 8 - Yufuin & Beppu - overnight at Beppu
Day 9 - Kitakyushu.

My queries are:
Will 2 nights in Nagasaki too many?
Is it worth a stop at Kitakyushu?
The suggested itinerary recommends renting a car to get to Mt. Aso. If i want to skip Mt. Aso and go direct to Kurokawa from Nagasaki, is there a train for this? In fact, if I are to skip Mt. Aso, is renting a car necessary at all? Can I do the rest with just train and/or bus?
I am also toying with the idea of going down to Kagoshima for 2 nights, which means taking 1 night off from either Nagasaki or Kurokawa and 1 night off from Kitakyushu. Will this detour down south be too much time taken? Or Kagoshima is worth the detour?

Appreciate some advice and comments. Thank you.

Day 1 =Explore Fukuoka city by subway(1 Day pass=620‰~)
Day 2 & 3 & 4=Buy sun Q northern Kyushu pass (3 Day pass=8000‰~)
Day 5 & 6 =Explore Mt Aso city by Minami Aso Tetsudo(1 Day pass=1000‰~)
Day 7 & 8 &9 -Explore Yufuin, Beppu,Kitakyushu -Buy sunQ northern Kyushu pass (3 Day pass=8000‰~).
Total cost=17620‰~.Never Imagine to rent a car.Because public transportation is much much cheaper. Otherwise you have ability to spend a lot of money.sun Q pass cover more than 100 Bus company,More than 1000 Bus routes.If you have intl Driving License and want to spend your money,then renting a car is best option.

It all depends on your interest and expectations. I found Nagasaki to be interesting enough for 1 day, but I would not know what to do on the second day. Your mileage will vary.

I know of buses from Hakata and Yufuin to Kurokawa-onsen, there may be others.

I stayed in Kagoshima 2 days, 1 of which was a day-trip to Miyazaki. I enjoyed Miyazaki more than Kagoshima. Too bad that Shinkansen does not go to Miyazaki.

Kurokawa was a nice and quiet onsen-town, good for relaxing (and not too much else). Yufuin was more lively with shops and tourists (most from Korea or Taiwan).

One other thing I did in Kyushu that I really enjoyed was riding a steam locomotive from Kumamoto to Hitoyoshi.

I agree with the comments above. Kuokawa is nice and we stayed in some awesome onsens there (Hozentai would be the best place I've ever stayed) but there isnt anything to do in town. Yufuin was more lively.

If you stay at Nagasaki 2 nights, try to get to the Nagasaki BioPark. It is a mission to get there but if you like animals it is brilliant. Otherwise though, 1 day in Nagasaki is plenty IMO.

I should qualify my comments above about Kurokawa - we stayed there last year not long after the earthquake and it was probably unusually quiet. There are a few shops in town and some nice restaurants, but other places might have been closed at the time.

If you get tired of Nagasaki you can always go to "Huis ten Bosch" to enjoy some real Japanese interpretation of European Dutch fun. ;-p

Nagasaki prefecture is quite a large area. Lots of local places to visit, and even islands and cruise to see. Two nights isn't too much.