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Luggage Forwarding / Hands-Free Travel

Forward the bags. Walk into Japan without dragging a suitcase up station stairs.

When to forward

Default: if your hotel is more than 30 minutes from the airport, forward.

Specifically:

  • Airport → hotel on landing, when you’re staying in Tokyo and landing at Narita (1+ hr by train).
  • Hotel → hotel when switching cities, especially Tokyo ↔ Kyoto on the Shinkansen.
  • Hotel → airport on departure day, if check-in is more than a few hours before flight time.

Skip forwarding for short hops (Haneda to central Tokyo, same-city hotel switches) and for next-day travel where the bag won’t catch up in time.

Yamato

Yamato Transport (黒猫ヤマト) — TA-Q-BIN service. The standard option.

Counters at NRT, HND, KIX accept bags up to 200cm linear (length + width + height) and 30kg. Insured to ¥300,000. Arrives at your hotel the next day in most cases.

¥660 airport handling fee at NRT/HND/KIX, plus a ¥660 counter usage fee at NRT (since June 2025) and HND (since July 2025). KIX is handling fee only. Per-route shipping on top — typically ¥2,500–¥3,000 from airport to Tokyo hotel; ~¥2,630 Tokyo-to-Kansai for a 160cm bag.

How to send

At the airport counter: tell them the destination hotel, give the hotel’s address (have it in English and Japanese), confirm next-day delivery. Pay in cash or card.

Hotels handle pickup for hotel-to-hotel and hotel-to-airport forwarding. Drop the bag at the front desk by the morning cutoff (usually 10 AM); confirm the destination is in their delivery zone. Most are — but ryokan in rural Hokkaido or remote Kyushu sometimes aren’t, and that’s the one place you find out the hard way.

Coin lockers as alternative

For short same-day storage (sightseeing in Tokyo, day trip from Kyoto), use station coin lockers instead of Yamato.

  • Most major stations have small, medium, and large lockers across a few price tiers.
  • Tap an IC card to most locker panels. Pay with the same Suica you tap to ride.
  • 24-hour limit at most stations. Beyond that, the locker is opened and bags moved to a holding office.

For oversized or multi-bag storage, look for staffed “Cloak” counters at major stations (Tokyo, Shinjuku, Kyoto). Pricier than lockers, more flexible on size.

Shinkansen oversized luggage

If you’re carrying a bag with combined length + width + height over 160cm onto the Tokaido, Sanyo, Kyushu, or Nishi-Kyushu Shinkansen, reserve oversized baggage space when booking the ticket. Reservation is free.

Bringing oversized luggage onto these lines without reservation costs ¥1,000 and a forced relocation if the space is taken.

Other Shinkansen lines (Tohoku, Hokuriku, Joetsu) don’t enforce reservations yet, though storage space is still limited.

If your bag is over 160cm, the simpler answer: forward it with Yamato, travel hands-free.