Kumamoto Prefecture has 45 cities, towns and villages, and the taxi-hailing apps GO, Uber Taxi and DiDi name only some of them on their own service-area pages. All three apps name Kumamoto City, Koshi City, Kikuyo Town, Mashiki Town and Kashima Town, but 29 of the 45 are named by none of them. There, you call a local taxi company. “Named” means the place appears on the company’s service-area page, not that a car will come at any hour. Checked November 2, 2026.
In short
- All three apps: Kumamoto City, Koshi City, Kikuyo Town, Mashiki Town, Kashima Town.
- One app only: Yatsushiro (Uber Taxi), Yamaga and Otsu Town (DiDi), and Hitoyoshi, Aso and the Aso District towns (GO).
- Booking ahead: DiDi 30 minutes to 3 days ahead, Uber Taxi 90 days to 15 minutes ahead (¥700 fee).
- Every app adds a pickup fee set by the taxi company, on top of the meter fare.
Checked with official pages on November 2, 2026.
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1. Which app works in which city or town in Kumamoto Prefecture?
Depends on the provider
| City or town | GO | Uber Taxi | DiDi |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kumamoto City | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Koshi City | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Kikuyo Town | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Mashiki Town | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Kashima Town | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Yatsushiro City | No | Yes | No |
| Yamaga City, Otsu Town | No | No | Yes |
| Hitoyoshi City, Aso City | Yes | No | No |
| 6 Aso District towns and villages | Yes | No | No |
The 6 Aso District towns and villages on GO’s list are Minamioguni, Oguni, Ubuyama, Takamori, Nishihara and Minamiaso.
Sources: the service-area pages of GO, Uber Taxi and DiDi (Japanese). GO’s page has an English version through its language menu. GO marks Kumamoto, Koshi, Hitoyoshi, Kikuyo, Mashiki and Kashima with an asterisk meaning “excluding some areas”, but the page does not say which areas.
The 29 places named by none of the three include Arao, Tamana, Kikuchi, Uto, Uki, Amakusa and Minamata. Use a local taxi company there, and see the Japanese list of taxi companies and their numbers, Kumamoto taxi companies.
2. How much extra do the apps charge?
With any app, you pay the meter fare plus a pickup fee (迎車料金, geisha ryokin) that each taxi company sets. The amount is not fixed by city.
| App | Booking fee | Cancel fee | Pay |
|---|---|---|---|
| GO | ¥100 app fee, depends on the taxi company; ¥100 if you pick in-car payment | From ¥500 | In the app or in the taxi |
| Uber Taxi | ¥700 for a reservation | Not stated on the pages read | Not stated on the pages read |
| DiDi | None found for Kumamoto | ¥500 | Card, debit card or PayPay in the app, or in the taxi |
GO lists a ¥100 app fee, a ¥100 handling fee for in-car payment and a peak charge of about ¥30 to ¥100, depending on the taxi company and area. GO shows the pickup fee and these charges on its fee details screen (料金詳細) before you send a request. Since September 28, 2026, Uber charges a ¥100 app fee per ride in some areas, but not on airport fixed fares. Uber’s page says the fee covers 20 prefectures, yet it lists only 11, and Kumamoto is not among those 11. DiDi charges a reservation fee of ¥300 to ¥780 only in Hokkaido, Miyagi, Hyogo, Hiroshima, Nagasaki and Okinawa. DiDi’s ¥500 cancellation fee applies if you cancel more than 3 minutes after a driver accepts, or after the driver arrives.
3. Can you book a taxi in advance?
DiDi lets you set a departure time from 30 minutes to 3 days ahead everywhere except Aichi, but it does not guarantee a car. Uber Taxi accepts reservations from 90 days to 15 minutes before the ride for a flat ¥700, plus the pickup fee. Its list of cities still waiting for reservations (Akita, Niigata, Tokushima, Matsuyama, Izumo and Miyakojima) does not include Kumamoto.
Sources (checked November 2026)
3 pages we checked
- GO: service areas and GO: fees (Japanese)
- Uber Taxi: service areas, app fee and reservations (Japanese)
- DiDi: service areas and FAQ (Japanese)




