Costs are often lower for land and long-term storage in Yamaguchi, with competitive last-mile rates for western Honshu and Kyushu. Transit times to Tokyo/Osaka increase slightly, but access to sea routes and Sanyo Expressway offsets lead times for regional distribution. Consider carrier consolidation and multi-stop routing to optimize total landed cost.

Primary corridors include the Sanyo Expressway for east–west trunking and sea routes via Shimonoseki for nearshore shipping. Regional carriers provide daily trunk services to Kitakyushu, Hiroshima and Osaka; ferries and RO-RO support short-sea links to Korea. Use mixed-modal routing to balance speed and cost.

Start with forecasted peak daily orders, SKU velocity tiers and pallet vs piece storage ratios. Factor in dock requirements, ceiling height for racking, staging and returns space. Prioritize sites near expressway interchanges for B2B trunking, and choose facilities with robust WMS and carrier plug-ins for eCommerce velocity.