Kansai airport to Yakushima

Hello, I'd like to get a reality check on my planned first day in Japan.

Arrival at Kansai airport at 0800 sharp according to the airline.

Then I'd have to clear customs (nothing to declare), collect a rental cell phone (preordered), exchange the rail pass voucher for the real thing and book trains to shin-osaka and then on to kagoshima-chou and then take a ferry to Yakushima island.

The latest train I could take to catch the last 4pm ferry is at 0946 at Kansai airport.

Sooo, is waiting for your checked bag, then customs, cell phone and rail pass even possible in one hour and 45 minutes? I know there is no way to do that in my country.

Safer and saner would be to overnight in Kagoshima, I know that myself, but then I'd have to take the Nagasaki Bio Park of my list.

Thanks in advance

If your incoming flight does not have a major delay, you should have no problems catching the 9:46 train.

I also recommend to consider flying to Kagoshima. Peach Aviation sell one way tickets for under 5000 yen:
http://www.flypeach.com/

From Kagoshima Airport, you could then take the bus to Kagoshima (1200 yen) and catch the jetfoil (7700 yen) or fly to Yakushima (9000 to 13000 yen one way).

Your schedule could be as follows:
10:45 depart Kansai Airport by Peach
11:55 arrive Kagoshima Airport
14:25 depart Kagoshima Airport by JAL
15:05 arrive Yakushima Airport

Thank you for your answer.

I had considered flying the last bit from Kagoshima. But the flights would have to be booked months in advance to not be really expensive. Even if you book early, 184000 for a 30 minute round trip ticket is pretty steep.

From the looks of it, I have the same planned as the guy who posted the "best way from Okinawa or Kobe to Yakushima?" as I went through exactly the same thoughts of taking the earliest ferry, going to Shiratani Unsuikyo (I actually wanted to hike to the Arakawa trail entrance and take the bus from there to the port) and back in the same day.

Guess I'll overnight at the youth hostel then, as the only other accomodation I can find (or understand) are really expensive resort hotels.

Even if you book early, 184000 for a 30 minute round trip ticket is pretty steep.

I have no idea where you get that crazy number from. The regular one way fare for Kagoshima-Yakushima is around 14,000 yen, and discount fares are often available for around 9,000 yen if you book more than 4 weeks in advance.

Ack, I added on an additional 0

18400 for a round trip ticket

Compared to the 14,000 yen for a round trip by jetfoil and considering the time savings, I find the 18,000 yen pretty reasonable. It is also not true that you would have to book the tickets months in advance. 4 weeks is the crucial point in time by which you should make the bookings - assuming that the flights are not booked out. Also, some discounts might not be available, at all, during peak seasons.