Are there any overnight buses leaving from Ibaraki?

If you're tight on money, and are not in a hurry, you can easily travel all over Japan by taking overnight buses. Depending on your ability to sleep on moving vehicles, you can get to, say, Hiroshima early the next morning (after a "good" night's sleep). This way, you will not lose a day traveling to and from cities. The buses usually have deeply reclining seats, blankets and pillows for the benefit of their customers, so it's not like riding on a regular bus.

From Ibaraki, there are fewer choices of destinations, namely Kyōto and Ōsaka. The bus is called the "Yokappe Kansai" (よかっぺ関西号).

The same bus passes through both of these destinations and can be boarded at Mito, Ishioka, Tsuchiura, and Tsukuba. If you take the bus from Mito all the way to Ōsaka, it will take about 11 hours, leave at 9:10 p.m. and arrive at 7:39 a.m.

For example, this trip would cost 10,500 yen for an adult one way or 18,900 yen for a round trip. Children are half price. Compare this to 16,910 yen one way if you went by the Fresh Hitachi and Shinkansen, however this would only take you 5 hours each way. Departures from Ishioka, Tsukuba, etc. are slightly cheaper.

An English timetable is available at http://pfwww.kek.jp/users_info/access/busoske.html.

There are also many buses that leave every night from Tōkyō station, Shinjuku station, and Ikebukuro station to various destinations throughout Japan. The ticket can be purchased a month in advance, or on the same day at JR Green Windows for a reasonable price (usually a round-trip costs less than a one-way by bullet train).

When you're planning your next trip in Japan, be sure to call the English JR East Info Line at 03-3423-0111 to find out the best way to travel for you.