Luggage storage and forwarding in Tokyo and Osaka

Which one you need

Approximate prices as published on 23 October 2026. Yamato’s prices are for sizes 160–180 and include tax. Locker prices vary by station.

Coin lockers

Every large station in Tokyo and Osaka has lockers, usually near the ticket gates and exits. At JR East stations (most of Tokyo’s JR network) the lockers are run by JR East’s Multi-Ecube service:

• Cashless only: Multi-Ecube lockers take IC cards such as Suica and QR code payments, not cash. Other operators’ lockers, especially older ones, may take coins.
• Pay in advance, by the day: the day changes at 2 am, not 24 hours after you put your bag in.
• Three days at most. After that, the bag is moved to a storage facility, where it is kept for up to 30 days at the same daily rate.
• Big lockers go first. L and LL compartments are few, and at busy stations they can all be taken. If you need one at a set time, book a storage app instead.
• Same-day delivery from a locker: at Tokyo, Ueno, Shinagawa and Ikebukuro stations, a bag left in a participating locker by 11 am can be delivered to a hotel in Tokyo’s 23 wards or the Maihama area by 6 pm the same day. Check the details on JR East Smart Logistics’ page.

Osaka’s stations work the same way, with lockers run by several rail companies. Fees and payment methods are shown on each locker.

Need to ask where the lockers are? The luggage & hotel cards have “Are there coin lockers nearby?” in polite Japanese, with furigana.

Luggage storage apps

Storage apps list shops, cafés and hotels near stations that keep bags for a fee. You book a time slot, show the booking when you drop off, and pay online. Compared with lockers, you know your space is there, any bag size is fine, and the bag is covered against loss or damage. In return, you are limited to the shop’s opening hours.

• Radical Storage lists prices from ¥270 per bag per day in Tokyo and Osaka. On top of that it adds ¥353 per bag at checkout for a guarantee of up to ¥2,000,000 per bag. Listings near major stations showed about ¥750 a bag a day when we checked. You can cancel free of charge before your drop-off time.
• Check the hours of the place you book against your pickup time, especially for evening flights.

Takkyubin forwarding

Takkyubin (宅急便) is Japan’s door-to-door parcel service. Yamato Transport (TA-Q-BIN, the black cat logo) is the best known. Sagawa Express and JAL ABC also have counters at the big airports. Hotels, convenience stores and airport counters all accept suitcases.

Yamato prices by suitcase size

Size is the length + width + height in centimetres, or the weight, whichever puts the bag in the larger size. The maximum is 200 cm and 30 kg.

Yamato’s published rates, tax included, as of 23 October 2026. Yamato takes ¥100 off per parcel if you drop it off yourself at a sales office, agency or convenience store. Kyoto, Nara and Kobe are in the same Kansai rate area as Osaka. Measure your bag: large checked suitcases are often close to 160 cm in total.

Timing

• To the airport: Yamato asks that bags reach the airport counter the day before your flight. From Tokyo to Haneda, that means sending it two days before departure. You can set a departure date up to 10 days after the day you ship. You must have a flight from that airport on the day you collect it.
• Airport counter fee: Yamato adds ¥660 per bag for deliveries to Narita, Haneda and Kansai airports.
• Hotel to hotel: both hotels must agree to handle it, and Yamato recommends it arrives at least a day before your stay. Ask the receiving hotel before you send anything.
• From the airport on arrival: all of Narita’s delivery counters are before security in the arrivals area. Some offer same-day delivery to hotels in limited parts of Tokyo if you hand the bag over early enough: Yamato from 6:30 to about 10:30 at most terminals, and JAL ABC and Sagawa at some counters until 14:00. Otherwise, ask the counter about next-day delivery.

Send bags from your hotel, step by step

1. Ask at the front desk a day or two ahead. Ask whether they can send your suitcase with Yamato (takkyubin, 宅急便) to the airport or to your next hotel. If they can’t, a convenience store such as 7-Eleven or FamilyMart, or a Yamato office, can.
2. Fill in the waybill. Staff give you a waybill (送り状, okurijō). Write the destination, your name, the sender address and phone (usually the hotel’s), and the delivery date. For the airport, add your flight date and number.
3. Pay and keep your copy. The desk measures the bag and tells you the price. Ask which payment methods they accept. Keep the customer copy (控え, hikae): it has the tracking number and you need it to collect the bag.
4. Collect it. At the airport, take your copy to the delivery company’s counter in the departure area, before check-in. At a hotel, the bag is waiting at the front desk when you check in.

Pack a day bag for the night before the luggage arrives: medicine, chargers, a change of clothes, and your passport, which you always need with you.

Tokyo to Osaka by Shinkansen: the big-suitcase rule

On the Tokaido, Sanyo and Kyushu Shinkansen (Tokyo – Shin-Osaka – Hakata – Kagoshima-Chuo), bags over 160 cm and up to 250 cm in total need a seat with an oversized baggage area, which you choose when you reserve. It costs nothing extra. If you board without one, you pay ¥1,000 and the conductor decides where the bag goes. Bags up to 160 cm need no reservation. With two big suitcases and a JR Pass, forwarding them and travelling light is often easier than reserving those seats. Booking, gates and seats are covered step by step in our Tokyo to Kyoto and Osaka Shinkansen how-to.

Choosing the suitcase in the first place, and what else to pack: what to pack for Japan.

Tax-free shopping in your bags

From 1 November 2026, tax-free purchases are refunded only after you show every item at a customs kiosk (or through Visit Japan Web) in the departure lobby, before you check in your bags. If you forward a suitcase with tax-free goods to the airport, collect it at the delivery counter first, then do the customs step, then check in. Don’t post tax-free goods home separately: goods you send abroad yourself have not counted as tax-free since April 2025.

Track each receipt’s 90-day deadline in the tax refund calculator, and read how the airport step works.

Quick answers

How much does it cost to send a suitcase to the airport in Japan?

With Yamato TA-Q-BIN, a large suitcase (size 160: up to 160 cm in total and 25 kg) costs ¥2,510 within the Tokyo area or within the Kansai area (October 2026 rates, tax included), plus a ¥660 counter fee at Narita, Haneda or Kansai airport. Bigger bags cost more: size 180 is ¥3,060 and size 200 is ¥3,720 within the same region.

How many days before my flight should I send my luggage?

Yamato asks that bags reach the airport counter the day before your flight. From Tokyo to Haneda, for example, that means sending it two days before departure. From further away, allow more time.

Can I send my luggage from Tokyo to Osaka?

Yes. Yamato’s rate from the Tokyo area to the Kansai area is ¥2,630 for a size 160 suitcase and ¥3,730 for size 180. Both hotels must agree to handle it, and it should arrive at least a day before you check in.

How much are coin lockers in Tokyo?

At JR East stations, Multi-Ecube lockers cost about ¥300–400 a day for the smallest size, ¥700–800 for a large one and ¥800–1,000 for the largest, depending on the station. They are cashless, so pay with an IC card such as Suica or a QR code payment.

How long can I leave luggage in a coin locker?

JR East lockers allow up to three days. After that the bag is moved to a storage facility, kept for up to 30 days, and charged at the same daily rate.

Do I need a reservation for a big suitcase on the Shinkansen?

Yes, on the Tokaido, Sanyo and Kyushu Shinkansen, which includes Tokyo to Osaka. A bag over 160 cm and up to 250 cm in total needs a seat with an oversized baggage area. It costs nothing extra, but without one you pay a ¥1,000 fee.

Adding luggage forwarding to your plans? Tick it in the trip planner and it puts “send your bags” on the right date before your flight.

Sources

Checked against these pages on 23 October 2026. Official pages take precedence over this summary.

1. JR East Smart Logistics: About Multi-Ecube (station lockers): fees and same-day hotel delivery
   JR East group company.
2. JR East Smart Logistics: Locker FAQs: sizes, maximum period, what happens after three days
   JR East group company.
3. Radical Storage: Luggage storage in Tokyo: prices, guarantee and cancellation
   Storage booking service; prices as listed on 23 Oct 2026.
4. Yamato Transport: TA-Q-BIN rates table (all regions)
   Delivery company.
5. Yamato Transport: What is the maximum size for TA-Q-BIN?
   Delivery company.
6. Yamato Transport: How many days before do I need to send luggage to the airport?
   Delivery company.
7. Yamato Transport: Can I send luggage from the hotel to Narita (Haneda) Airport?
   Delivery company.
8. Yamato Transport: Is it possible to send luggage from one hotel to another?
   Delivery company.
9. Yamato Transport: Sending baggage from a hotel, airport or tourist facility (waybill)
   Delivery company.
10. Yamato Transport: What is the Airport TA-Q-BIN service? (¥660 airport counter fee)
    Delivery company.
11. Narita International Airport: Baggage delivery counters and same-day delivery
    Airport operator.
12. Central Japan Railway Company (JR Central): Luggage information: oversized baggage on the Shinkansen
    Railway operator.
13. Japan Customs: Tax Exemption (Refund) Program for Foreign Visitors

General information. Prices and services change; the operator’s own page is always right. JapanBenri is not affiliated with any railway, locker operator or delivery company.