Luggage Forwarding in Japan (Takkyubin): Prices, Timings and How to Book It

Takkyubin is the reason Japanese travellers move between cities without suitcases. A courier collects your bag from one hotel and delivers it to the next, usually the following day, for roughly the price of a decent lunch. It is the highest-value service in Japanese travel and most visitors never use it.

How much it costs

Pricing is by the same total-dimensions measurement the trains use — height plus width plus depth — with a weight ceiling for each band. Distance matters, but less than you would expect.

Figures are indicative bands for planning. Carriers publish exact fare tables by prefecture pair and revise them periodically — confirm the price at the counter, which takes thirty seconds.

The number worth noticing: a large check-in case that needs an oversized baggage reservation on the train costs about ¥2,700 to send between Tokyo and Kyoto. Set that against carrying it through two stations and up several flights of stairs.

How long it takes

How to send one

From a hotel — the easy way

1. Ask at reception the evening before or first thing in the morning. “Takkyubin, please” is understood everywhere.
2. Have the destination hotel’s name, full address, telephone number and your check-in date. Screenshot the booking confirmation — the Japanese address is what matters.
3. Staff complete the form; you sign and pay in cash.
4. Keep the receipt: it carries the tracking number.
5. Collect at the next hotel’s reception, showing the receipt or your passport.

Deadlines matter. Most hotels have a morning cut-off — often around 10:00 or 11:00 — for same-day collection. Miss it and the bag leaves the next day.

From a convenience store

Family Mart and 7-Eleven accept takkyubin. You complete the form yourself, which requires writing the destination address in Japanese — workable if you have it on your phone to copy, awkward otherwise. Use the hotel if you have the option.

From the airport

Narita, Haneda, Kansai and the other main airports have courier counters in the arrivals hall. Sending the case straight to your first hotel means the entire journey into the city happens with a day bag — and on the Narita run in particular, that is worth more than the fare difference between any two routes. See Narita to Tokyo.

The same works in reverse: send the case to the airport a day or two before your flight and collect it at the departures counter.

What not to send

• Your passport, cash, cards and medication. Never. Carriers exclude valuables from liability and you may need any of these at short notice.
• Laptops and cameras, unless you accept the risk. The service is reliable, but the compensation ceiling is low.
• Anything for tonight. Toothbrush, charger, a change of clothes — these travel with you.
• Sealed tax-free consumables, if there is any chance customs will want to see them on departure. See tax-free shopping.

Cold and frozen

Refrigerated and frozen services exist, at a premium, and are how people send regional food home. If you have bought something perishable, ask specifically for the chilled service — sending it standard in August will not end well.

The habit worth forming

On a multi-city trip, forward the case on every intercity leg. The cost across a two-week trip is a few thousand yen; what you get back is every train journey, every station change and every hotel arrival made easy — and the oversized baggage rule stops applying to you entirely.

For the wider picture, see luggage and transport rules in Japan.

Data checked: 2026-09-27