Quick answer
Drop your bag at a convenience store or hotel counter, give the next hotel's address, and it arrives in a day or two. Send it at least a day before you need it. It's perfect for legs with trains, buses or day trips in between.
Nobody wants to drag a big suitcase through a giant station, up stairs and onto a packed train. Luggage forwarding, called takkyubin, was one of the most useful things we did in Japan.
The short version:
- Hand over your bag at a convenience store, hotel or airport counter.
- It shows up at your next hotel, usually the next day or so.
- Send it a day ahead. It’s not same-day.
- Travel with just a backpack in the meantime.
How we used it
Before leaving Hakone, we sent our suitcase through Yamato Transport at a 7-Eleven, straight to our hotel in Kyoto.
Then, for the next few days:
- Hakone → back towards Tokyo
- Shinkansen Tokyo → Kanazawa
- A day in Kanazawa
- A car day trip to Shirakawa-go
- A bus from Kanazawa to Kyoto
All of that without a big suitcase. By the time we reached Kyoto, the bag was waiting. That’s the real use case: a stretch of the trip with lots of moving around, where a suitcase would only slow you down.
What it actually is
A courier service within Japan. The big names:
- Yamato Transport → look for the black cat logo (Kuroneko Yamato).
- Sagawa → another common one.
How to send a bag
- Go to a convenience store counter or ask your hotel front desk. Hotels usually help fill in the form.
- Have the full address and phone number of your next hotel ready. Screenshot your bookings before the trip.
- Pay by size and weight, in cash or card.
- Keep the slip until your bag arrives.
The form is in Japanese, so a translate app or hotel staff helps.
The timing mistake to avoid
It’s a next-day service in most cases, sometimes two days for longer distances. If you leave one hotel in the morning and arrive at the next in the evening, don’t count on same-day delivery.
Let your next hotel know a bag is coming, so they hold it for you.
When it’s not worth it
- Back-to-back one-night stays → the bag can’t catch up.
- Tight budgets → it’s not cheap enough to use for every single hop. Save it for the legs where you’re doing something active.
Station lockers, the other option
For a few hours in one place, station lockers work well. Many are digital, some are simple coin lockers. They can get expensive for large sizes or long periods, so for multi-day moves, forwarding is better.
My take
If your route has a few days of trains, buses and day trips between two hotels, forward the big bag and travel light. It made that part of our trip so much easier.