Luggage forwarding in Japan: Takkyubin timing and costs
Verdict
Forward your suitcase when traveling light between stops is worth being without it until the receiving date. For luggage going to the airport, work backward from your flight and the counter’s sending deadline, not from hotel checkout. Keep the bag with you when the drop-off deadline and the day you need it back do not line up.
What is luggage forwarding, or takkyubin?
Luggage forwarding is parcel delivery that moves your bag separately from you to a receiving address or an airport counter. Yamato calls its regular parcel service TA-Q-BIN; the airport and same-day services have separate conditions.
Source: Yamato — TA-Q-BIN and Airport TA-Q-BIN (confirmed 17 September 2026).
Start with the job the bag needs to do, rather than treating every luggage-delivery sign as the same offer:
- A transfer between stops: establish the receiving arrangements and delivery date for ordinary TA-Q-BIN.
- A suitcase waiting for your flight: use Airport TA-Q-BIN’s advance sending schedule and participating pickup counter.
- A bag reaching a hotel today: use Same-day Delivery Service only when the sending office, destination, and acceptance deadline fit that service.
Source: Yamato — TA-Q-BIN, Airport TA-Q-BIN, and Same-day Delivery Service (confirmed 17 September 2026).
Hands-Free Travel is broader than shipping a suitcase. Yamato describes the relationship this way:
“Yamato Transport, together with the Japan Tourism Agency, recommend the ‘Hands-Free Travel’ services.”
Source: Yamato — Hands-Free Travel (confirmed 17 September 2026).
The program includes parcel delivery and temporary storage, and its logo identifies counters certified by the Japan Tourism Agency. A storage listing is not a promise of same-day delivery from that location.
Source: Yamato — Hands-Free Travel (confirmed 17 September 2026).
The service details below are as of September 2026. The useful planning question is not simply whether you can send a suitcase: it is whether you can comfortably finish the intervening part of the trip without opening it.
Where can you hand over a bag?
Use a named airport or station counter, a Yamato sales office, or an eligible agency or convenience store. For hotel arrangements, establish what the particular property will handle before building the itinerary around reception.
Which airport and station counters should you look for?
According to Yamato’s own counter list, Haneda’s Terminal 3 International Baggage Counter (Shipping) is on the second floor and lists same-day delivery. Kansai’s Terminal 1 North, fourth-floor Baggage Delivery Service Counter lists storage and same-day delivery.
Source: Yamato — Hands-Free Travel facilities (confirmed 17 September 2026).
At Narita, the airport’s own delivery directory lists Yamato counters on the first floor of Terminal 1’s North and South wings and Terminal 2’s Main Building. Use that airport directory for the operator and location, then establish the service’s acceptance window separately from the counter’s general opening hours.
Source: Narita Airport — Baggage Delivery (confirmed 17 September 2026).
For a city stop, Yamato’s list identifies Tokyo Station Marunouchi North Exit Baggage Service Counter for storage and Kyoto Station Center for storage and same-day delivery. Match the service label to your task: leaving a bag while exploring and sending it onward are different requests.
Source: Yamato — Hands-Free Travel facilities (confirmed 17 September 2026).
Save the full counter name, terminal or station exit, floor, and service before traveling there. A note that says only “airport luggage desk” leaves the essential distinction unresolved: are you looking for shipping, collection, or storage?
Can you send luggage from a hotel or convenience store?
Yamato’s TA-Q-BIN page lists agencies, sales offices, and convenience stores as sending options. Its airport page explicitly allows luggage to travel from the airport to a home or hotel; that does not establish a universal hotel dispatch service.
Source: Yamato — TA-Q-BIN and Airport TA-Q-BIN (confirmed 17 September 2026).
For a hotel-to-hotel plan, ask the sending property whether it can arrange dispatch and the receiving property whether it will accept your bag for the intended stay. Give both the actual travel dates. If reception cannot arrange the sending leg, use a listed counter or agency rather than improvising at checkout.
Choose the destination before choosing the nearest shop. A convenient drop-off point is useful only after the service, bag category, and required receiving date have been settled.
Should your suitcase follow every hotel change?
Send it to the stop where the confirmed delivery date and your need for its contents line up, not automatically to the next address. For an itinerary with a short intermediate stay, ask whether the later hotel can receive the bag on the proposed date while you carry what you need for the intervening stay.
Put the bag’s route beside your own route before paying. If your proposed receiving stay ends before the bag’s arrival date, change the destination or keep the suitcase with you. If you need something from it during the intervening stay, move that item into your smaller bag before handoff. Treat this as a receiving arrangement to discuss with the hotel, not a promise about storage or delivery speed.
How long does it take and what does it cost?
Airport TA-Q-BIN requires advance planning; same-day delivery is a separate, restricted service. For an ordinary transfer, get the arrival date for the actual route instead of assigning it a default overnight schedule.
When must you send luggage to the airport?
Yamato’s Airport TA-Q-BIN timetable places drop-off by two days before departure, or three days in some areas, with the exact sending deadline determined by the drop-off counter. It schedules delivery to the airport by the day before departure and collection at a participating counter on departure day.
Source: Yamato — Airport TA-Q-BIN (confirmed 17 September 2026).
Separate these appointments in your calendar: handing the suitcase over, having it reach the airport, and collecting it before the flight. Airport delivery is not the same event as airline bag drop. Arrange your last hotel stay around what you can keep in your smaller bag until collection.
For US-bound travelers, there is an important distinction on the same official page. The separate hands-free offer for ANA international departures from Narita, Haneda, and Kansai states:
“Not available on routes to the United States (including Hawaii) due to restrictions of the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration.”
Source: Yamato — Airport TA-Q-BIN, ANA hands-free service (confirmed 17 September 2026).
That exclusion belongs to the named ANA offer. Do not apply it to the entire airport-counter delivery service, or book the ANA offer on the assumption that a US destination is covered.
Can your bag reach the hotel on the day you arrive?
Use same-day delivery only after the counter accepts your destination within its cutoff. Yamato limits this service to particular offices and destinations; acceptance and delivery times are office-specific, and weather, traffic, and parcel volume can delay delivery.
Source: Yamato — Same-day Delivery Service (confirmed 17 September 2026).
Narita Airport’s own service listing gives these same-day service windows as of September 2026, not general counter closing times:
| Operator | Narita's listed same-day window |
|---|---|
| Yamato | 06:30–10:30 |
| JAL ABC | 06:30–14:00 for same-day hotel delivery |
| Sagawa | Order acceptance 06:30–14:00 |
Source: Narita Airport — Baggage Delivery (confirmed 17 September 2026).
Narita labels Yamato’s delivery areas as limited and specifies 10 Tokyo wards and selected hotels in Urayasu City for Sagawa. A matching acceptance window does not make the operators’ destination coverage interchangeable.
Source: Narita Airport — Baggage Delivery (confirmed 17 September 2026).
Compare your expected arrival at the service desk, not just the flight’s landing time, with that window. Keep carrying the bag as your fallback; do not make an unaccepted same-day request the foundation of the evening’s plans.
Which published prices are useful for budgeting?
Use the full rate table on Yamato’s official site for the route and bag category. The Airport TA-Q-BIN page says its listed airport-bound rates already include a ¥660 airport fee, tax included; that amount is not the total delivery price and should not be added again to an inclusive quote.
Source: Yamato — Airport TA-Q-BIN (confirmed 17 September 2026).
Yamato publishes these worked examples for Same-day Delivery Service, as of September 2026:
| Specific same-day route | Bag category | Published example |
|---|---|---|
| Haneda Airport to destinations within Tokyo's 23 wards | Size 160 | ¥5,780 per piece |
| Kyoto Station Service Counter to destinations within Kyoto city | Size 160 | ¥3,470 per piece |
Source: Yamato — Same-day Delivery Service (confirmed 17 September 2026).
These are route-specific examples, not a nationwide tariff or a price range for ordinary forwarding. The same-day page ties fees to bag size and service counter and identifies additional charges in some areas. It also names an Airport Express Delivery Fee for airport-bound same-day deliveries, in addition to regular service fees; do not substitute the standard airport fee for that separately named charge.
Source: Yamato — Same-day Delivery Service (confirmed 17 September 2026).
What size and weight limits apply?
For ordinary TA-Q-BIN, Size 200 allows a combined measurement up to 200 cm and weight up to 30 kg. Measure and weigh the packed bag: a size label is not permission to ignore its weight ceiling.
Source: Yamato — TA-Q-BIN (confirmed 17 September 2026).
Yamato sizes a parcel by adding its three dimensions (width, length and height) in centimetres. The larger categories are:
| TA-Q-BIN category | Width + length + height | Weight ceiling |
|---|---|---|
| Size 120 | Up to 120 cm | Up to 15 kg |
| Size 140 | Up to 140 cm | Up to 20 kg |
| Size 160 | Up to 160 cm | Up to 25 kg |
| Size 180 | Up to 180 cm | Up to 30 kg |
| Size 200 | Up to 200 cm | Up to 30 kg |
Source: Yamato — TA-Q-BIN (confirmed 17 September 2026).
When dimensions and weight fall into different categories, Yamato uses the larger category. Ordinary TA-Q-BIN also limits any single side to 170 cm, or 100 cm for packages requiring a fixed transport orientation, such as those that cannot be turned upside down.
Source: Yamato — TA-Q-BIN (confirmed 17 September 2026).
Airport TA-Q-BIN separately rejects parcels heavier than 30 kg. Some convenience stores cannot send parcels larger than Size 180 under the general TA-Q-BIN guidance. A bag meeting the overall service limit therefore still needs an appropriate sending location.
Source: Yamato — Airport TA-Q-BIN and TA-Q-BIN (confirmed 17 September 2026).
What cannot go inside the suitcase?
Keep passports, payment cards, and cash with you, and screen the contents before sealing the bag. Yamato’s prohibited-items list specifically includes:
“Examination admission tickets, passports and vehicle inspection certificates which are difficult to replace”
Source: Yamato — Dangerous and Prohibited Items (confirmed 17 September 2026).
Other listed exclusions include cash and securities, credit and bank cards, irreplaceable originals, pets, poisonous and dangerous substances, and flammable or explosive materials. Yamato also excludes parcels whose contents total more than ¥300,000, tax included. That threshold concerns the combined contents, not just the suitcase or its most expensive item.
Source: Yamato — Dangerous and Prohibited Items (confirmed 17 September 2026).
Make a contents list while packing, particularly when the bag combines clothing, electronics, and new purchases. Meeting the measurement and weight limits does not settle acceptance of what is inside.
How should you handle batteries and electronics?
Identify the device and battery to the carrier before handoff rather than treating electronics as ordinary clothing. Yamato’s general list includes products containing dangerous substances such as batteries, and its air-freight rules impose additional restrictions.
Source: Yamato — Dangerous and Prohibited Items (confirmed 17 September 2026).
For shipments sent on or after December 31, 2025, customers without a contract with Yamato cannot send products containing lithium batteries by air freight. That is an air-freight restriction for those shipments and customers, not a blanket statement that every electronic device is prohibited from every service.
Source: Yamato — Dangerous and Prohibited Items (confirmed 17 September 2026).
Can you forward a Japanese kitchen knife?
The cited Yamato list does not settle kitchen-knife acceptance. Its wording is:
“Weapons such as firearms or swords”
Source: Yamato — Dangerous and Prohibited Items (confirmed 17 September 2026).
The list does not name kitchen knives, so ask at the counter about the specific item. Neither a general “yes” nor a general “no” follows from that wording. Use the separate guide to packing a Japanese kitchen knife for the flight home for the flight-packing question; it does not replace the courier’s acceptance decision.
How do you send a bag step by step?
Set the reunion date and receiving location first, then work backward to packing and handoff. The following sequence is a planning checklist, not a promise that every counter offers every service.
- Name the receiving point. Write down the actual hotel, sales office, or airport counter rather than just the city. For a hotel, establish the receiving arrangement before sending.
- Set the required arrival date. Ask the sending location which service meets it and when the bag must be handed over. For airport forwarding, use the counter’s sending deadline rather than your checkout time.
- Separate what stays with you. Pack clothing and necessities for the interval without the suitcase. Keep the excluded identity and payment items out of the shipment.
- Resolve shopping questions before closing the bag. Read the Japan tax-free shopping rules before forwarding anything bought tax-free. Do not treat courier acceptance as an answer to the separate tax-free procedure.
- Measure, weigh, and identify unusual contents. Use the packed bag, including purchases, for the size and weight assessment. Bring the battery or knife question to the carrier before committing to the handoff.
- Confirm the service and price on the paperwork. For Yamato’s Same-day Delivery Service, complete its same-day service form and pay at the counter. Read the destination before handing over the suitcase.
Source: Yamato — Same-day Delivery Service (confirmed 17 September 2026).
Keep the handoff paperwork and receiving details accessible. Save the address and counter information on the phone that travels with you; for the separate connectivity decision, use the pocket WiFi versus eSIM planning guide.
If the real task is sightseeing before returning to the same place, use a storage counter instead of inventing a delivery route. Yamato’s storage instructions tell travelers to collect their bag at the same counter, on the same day, before closing, and to bring the requester’s copy for exchange. The page also says permitted storage days are counter-specific, so do not plan an extended stay from the general service description.
Source: Yamato — Baggage Storage Service (confirmed 17 September 2026).
FAQ
Can you collect a forwarded parcel at a Yamato office instead of a hotel?
Yes. Yamato lists Temporary Custody Service for parcel pickup at its sales offices throughout Japan. Use that named pickup service when discussing the receiving arrangement, rather than confusing it with leaving luggage at a sightseeing storage counter.
Source: Yamato — TA-Q-BIN (confirmed 17 September 2026).
Do same-day delivery and baggage storage require reservations?
Yamato says no reservations are required for its Same-day Delivery Service or Baggage Storage Service. That statement does not expand a same-day route’s destination coverage or acceptance window.
Source: Yamato — Same-day Delivery Service and Baggage Storage Service (confirmed 17 September 2026).
Can you choose a delivery time slot or pay on delivery when sending to an airport?
No: Yamato lists Time Zone Delivery Service and Cash on Delivery Service as unavailable for airport-bound shipments. Arrange the airport service on its own terms rather than carrying those options over from another parcel service.
Source: Yamato — Airport TA-Q-BIN (confirmed 17 September 2026).
Can a baggage storage counter keep refrigerated items?
Yamato’s Baggage Storage Service does not accept refrigerated items. Do not make that service your storage plan for a purchase that needs refrigeration.
Source: Yamato — Baggage Storage Service (confirmed 17 September 2026).
What to remember
Forward the suitcase only when the sending deadline and the day you need it back fit your itinerary.
Keep ordinary forwarding, airport delivery, same-day service, and storage separate when choosing a counter.
Retain essential belongings, meet the bag limits, and resolve restricted contents before handoff.