Luggage Forwarding in Japan How to send a suitcase between hotels, airports and cities, and how early to send it

Luggage forwarding, also called luggage delivery, means handing your suitcase to a delivery company, usually at a hotel front desk, an airport counter or a convenience store, and collecting it later at your next hotel or at the airport. Japanese call door-to-door delivery takuhaibin; takkyubin (TA-Q-BIN) is Yamato Transport’s name for its service, and most visitors meet Yamato. Ordinary delivery takes the next day or two, not a few hours.

Often, yes. Yamato says hotel-to-hotel sending works when the front desk of the hotel you are leaving partners with Yamato, and when the next hotel can receive luggage at its front desk. Ask both. If your current hotel cannot send it, take the bag to a 7-Eleven, a FamilyMart or a Yamato sales office.

Yamato’s normal service delivers the next day or two days later. For a hotel or ryokan, Yamato asks you to send the bag by the counter’s cut-off at least two days before check-in, or three for longer distances, so it arrives the day before you do. You cannot choose a delivery time for a hotel. Okinawa and some routes that go by air or sea take longer.

It depends on the size of the bag and the distance. On 5 October 2026, Yamato charged ¥3,160 in cash to send a large suitcase (size 160, up to 160 cm and 25 kg) from Tokyo to Kyoto or Osaka, and ¥2,170 for a cabin-size case (size 120). Sending to an airport costs more because the rate includes a ¥660 airport fee, and same-day services cost more again.

Yes, it is one of the most common forwarding routes. Hand the case to your Tokyo hotel’s front desk, or to a 7-Eleven, FamilyMart or Yamato office, by the cut-off two days before your Kyoto check-in, and ride the Shinkansen with an overnight bag. On 5 October 2026, Yamato charged ¥3,160 in cash for a large suitcase and ¥2,170 for a cabin-size case; Osaka costs the same.

Yes. Yamato’s Airport TA-Q-BIN delivers to 17 airports, including Narita, Haneda and Kansai. The bag must reach the airport counter the day before your flight, so send it two days before departure (three in some areas) and collect it at the airport counter with your receipt. You must have a flight from that airport on the day you collect it.

Yes, from delivery counters in the arrivals areas of Narita, Haneda, Kansai and other major airports. Ordinary delivery reaches the hotel the next day or later, after you. If you want the bag the same evening, use one of the same-day services at Haneda, Narita or Kansai, which have morning or midday cut-offs and limited delivery areas.

Only as separate products on certain routes. Yamato delivers same-day from Haneda and Narita airports and from its Kyoto Station counter, JAL ABC from Narita, Haneda and Kansai airports to hotels, and JR West between Kyoto or Osaka and Hiroshima or Hakata. Each has a cut-off, often before noon, and none goes to Airbnb-type lodging. Yamato offers no same-day delivery to Narita Airport.

Only if staff at the property can receive it for you. Yamato does not pick up from or deliver to an Airbnb or similar lodging with no reception staff. Instead, address the bag to a Yamato sales office near the rental, add a phone number in Japan, and collect it there with your passport during office hours.

From some, yes. Yamato says 7-Eleven and FamilyMart stores can send its parcels, and a suitcase up to size 160 can go from any of them. Not every store can help, and a convenience store can only send a bag, never receive or hold one, so do not address a suitcase to a store.

Up to a point. Yamato takes bags up to 200 cm in total length, width and height and 30 kg, with no side over 170 cm. Any participating convenience store takes up to size 160; bigger bags depend on the store. Forwarding is often the easiest way to move a very large case, because some Shinkansen lines need a special seat reservation for big bags.

Yes. Keep the customer copy of the waybill: Yamato’s 12-digit tracking number is on it, and you can enter it on Yamato’s English tracking page. If the bag is late, Yamato’s English customer service is on 0120-67-9625, or +81-3-6834-7503 from a phone that cannot call the free number, from 8:00 to 21:00 every day.

Yamato will not carry cash, credit or bank cards, passports, flammable items such as gas cylinders or fireworks, weapons, or anything worth more than ¥300,000, and spray cans cannot go on its air routes. Beyond the rules, keep anything you need before the bag arrives with you: medicine, chargers, documents, valuables and a change of clothes.

For a big suitcase on a multi-city trip, usually yes, especially around one-night stops such as Hakone, mountain detours, and the last leg to the airport. It is less useful for a short hop such as Kyoto to Osaka, for a cabin-size bag, or when you will check in to the next hotel in less than two days.

Take a standard suitcase on the train if your next check-in is soon or you need what is in it tonight. Forward it if it is very large, you have several bags, the trip includes stairs, transfers or a side trip, or you would rather travel with a day bag. Very large bags need a reserved oversized-baggage seat on some Shinkansen lines.