Coin Lockers in Japan: Sizes, Prices and What to Do When They’re Full

Every Japanese train station has coin lockers, and every guidebook mentions them in passing. What they don’t mention is that the large ones are gone by 9am at any station worth visiting, that a fair number still refuse anything but coins, and that a suitcase over a certain size will not fit in one no matter how much change you’re carrying.

How coin lockers actually work

The name is a holdover. Plenty of lockers now take more than coins, but the mechanism is the same everywhere: put the bag in, close the door, pay, take the key or receipt. What differs by station and by locker generation is exactly how you pay and what you get back.

• Coin-only lockers. Feed ¥100 coins (older units) into a slot, turn the key, and keep it. You pay once, up front, for a fixed period: usually a calendar day, sometimes a rolling 24 hours depending on the operator. No coins, no locker, and no negotiating with the machine.
• IC card lockers. Increasingly common at major hubs in Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto. You tap your Suica, Pasmo or ICOCA card to lock the door, and the fee comes off automatically when you tap again to open it, so you pay for the hours you actually used rather than a flat day rate.
• App and QR-code lockers. A smaller but growing share, mostly in Tokyo, let you reserve and pay through an app before you arrive, which matters more than it sounds once you understand how often lockers run out.

If you’re on a coin-only unit and don’t have the right change, most stations have a change machine nearby — but not always right next to the lockers, so check before you’re committed to carrying bags any further.

Sizes and what they actually cost

Every station uses roughly the same three-tier system, though the exact dimensions and prices vary by operator and by how central the station is. Tokyo, Shinjuku and Kyoto Station run higher than a quiet regional stop.

The large tier disappears first, every morning, at every popular station. If your plan depends on finding one after 10am at a tourist hub, have a second plan.

How long you can actually leave a bag

Coin lockers are built for a day out, not a multi-day disappearance. Most operators cap storage at around three days. Past that point, station staff open the locker, remove the contents, and move everything to a station office or lost-property counter, on their schedule and usually at your cost.

• Same-day and overnight: fine everywhere, this is what the system is designed for.
• Two to three days: generally still allowed, but you’re near the limit at most stations.
• Beyond three days: risk of removal. Contents held at a station office are usually released against your receipt or key, plus a holding fee.
• Left unclaimed for weeks: eventually treated as lost property and handled under Japan’s standard lost-and-found process, which can mean police custody.

None of this is a problem for a day trip. It becomes one for travellers who stash a bag at the start of a week-long side trip and assume it will simply wait for them — it might, but it isn’t guaranteed to stay exactly where you left it.

When every locker in the building is full

This is the actual daily reality at Tokyo, Shinjuku, Kyoto and any station near a major sight on a weekend. Walking the concourse hoping to spot an open door wastes time you don’t have. A few better options:

1. Check a locker-availability app first. Coin Locker Navi and similar services show real-time availability by station and bank, so you can walk straight to a locker that’s actually free instead of touring the building.
2. Try a different exit or level. Large stations have locker banks scattered across multiple exits and basement levels — the ones nearest the main entrance fill first, and a five-minute walk to a quieter exit often turns up space.
3. Use a staffed baggage counter instead. Tourist information centers and some station offices offer paid bag storage with no automated-locker size ceiling, useful for anything a locker won’t take anyway.
4. Send it ahead instead of storing it. If you’re checking into a hotel later the same day or the next, forwarding costs about the same as a day of locker fees and removes the search entirely — see luggage forwarding in Japan.

Airport lockers work a little differently

At Narita, Haneda and Kansai, coin lockers cluster in the arrivals and departures halls rather than being spread across a whole station, and they compete for space with a far heavier flow of suitcases than any city station sees. Prices run a little higher than in town, and the large tier empties out fast on any morning with several long-haul arrivals landing close together.

If you’re spending one last night in the city before an early flight, it’s worth asking at the airport’s own baggage counter about staffed storage as a backup — it exists precisely because the lockers can’t absorb peak arrival waves. For the rest of the journey between the airport and the city, see Narita to Tokyo.

What you shouldn’t put in one

• Anything perishable. Lockers aren’t climate controlled, and a closed metal box in August gets hot fast.
• Valuables you’d regret losing. Operators generally disclaim liability for cash, documents and electronics left inside, so treat a locker as convenient rather than secure.
• Anything you need before you’re back. Obvious, but it’s the single most common locker mistake: putting a phone charger or medication in the bag you just locked away for six hours.

For the wider picture on getting bags around the country without carrying them everywhere, see luggage and transport rules in Japan.

Data checked: 2026-09-27