Luggage Forwarding in Japan: How Takkyubin Courier Services Work
Luggage forwarding in Japan lets you send a suitcase ahead by courier while you ride the trains with only a day bag. The system is called takkyubin, and Yamato Transport's TA-Q-BIN network carries most tourist bags between hotels and airports, usually by the next day.12
Fees, rules, and requirements can change. Confirm current details at Yamato Transport and JR Central.
Last verified: 2026-09 against Yamato Transport and JR Central English pages; route fares carry their own as-of dates below.
Overview
This article explains takkyubin for first-time visitors planning a multi-stop trip. It covers what the service is, who needs it, and when it applies.
A 宅急便 (takkyūbin, "door-to-door parcel delivery") network moves parcels between virtually any two addresses in Japan. Yamato Transport operates the largest network under the brand name TA-Q-BIN, a name printed in Roman letters on its packaging and counters.1 Travelers know the company by its black-cat logo, colloquially called 黒猫ヤマト (Kuroneko Yamato, "black-cat Yamato").1
Sagawa Express and Japan Post run parallel courier services, so takkyubin is the generic system and TA-Q-BIN is one brand within it.13 For tourists, Yamato is the default because its hotel, コンビニ (konbini, "convenience store"), sales-office, and airport counter network is the densest.14
The baseline to plan around is next-day arrival, not same-hour delivery. Same-day service exists only on narrow airport-adjacent corridors with morning cutoffs and eligible destination lists.256
How Takkyubin Works for Visitors
Hotel-to-hotel forwarding is the core use case, airport flows handle arrivals and departures, and same-day options cover only specific corridors. Each flow uses the same waybill and per-bag pricing logic.
Hotel to hotel forwarding
Tell the front desk you want to forward a bag to your next hotel. Staff at a participating hotel issue a waybill, confirm the destination and delivery date, and hand the bag to the carrier's daily pickup.4
Both ends must cooperate. The sending hotel must partner with the carrier, and the receiving hotel must accept held luggage addressed to a guest whose name matches the reservation and whose check-in date is on the label.4 For arrival-day timing around the handoff, see Early and Late Arrivals: Managing Your Luggage and Timing. If the hotel cannot ship, carry the bag to a participating conbini branch or a Yamato sales office instead.4
Waybills are available at sales offices, conbini branches, and TA-Q-BIN agencies. Note that parcels over Size 180 cannot be sent from some conbini branches, so oversized bags go through a sales office or hotel desk.1 Every TA-Q-BIN parcel carries carrier liability up to 300,000 yen (tax included) per parcel.1
Airport to hotel and hotel to airport
Airport TA-Q-BIN moves suitcases between major airports and hotels or homes in either direction. Parcels heavier than 30 kg are not accepted on this service.2 To choose how you personally reach the city while the bag travels separately, see Narita and Haneda: Tokyo Airport-to-City Transfer Options.
Sending a bag to an airport adds a 660 yen handling fee (tax included) on top of the shipping charge (as of 2025-07-01; confirm current figures with Yamato Transport).27 Yamato states the 660 yen fee applies at Kansai International Airport, Narita International Airport, and Haneda Airport, with counter-usage fees introduced at Narita from 2025-06-01 and at Haneda from 2025-07-01 (as of 2025-07-01).7
Yamato stages airport delivery backwards from the flight. Drop off by the counter's sending deadline about two days before departure (three days in some areas), Yamato delivers to the airport by the day before departure, and you collect the bag at the participating counter on departure day.2
For hotel-to-airport sends, Yamato instructs travelers to time the bag so it arrives at the airport one day before the departure date.4 A bag for a February 1 departure should therefore arrive by January 31, and pickup requires a flight departing from that airport on the pickup day (as of 2026).4 At the airport counter, staff exchange the parcel against the sender receipt of the waybill, so keep that receipt in your day bag.2 Time-zone delivery and cash-on-delivery are not available when sending to airports.2
Same-day options and their limits
Same-day delivery is a location-specific option, not a nationwide promise. Confirm the exact counter, cutoff time, delivery area, and receiving hotel before assuming it applies.56
From Haneda Airport, Yamato publishes a same-day plan: drop the bag at the airport counter by 11:00 and eligible hotels in central Tokyo, Yokohama, Kawasaki, Urayasu in the Tokyo Disney Resort area, and listed Chiba areas receive it after 18:00 the same day (as of 2026; confirm current cutoffs with Yamato Transport).5 The same-day cash fare for a Size 160 suitcase runs 5,170 yen to a central-Tokyo hotel and 5,780 yen to the other listed areas (as of 2026).5 In the reverse direction, bags brought to listed Tokyo sales offices by 11:00 can be picked up at Haneda between 17:00 and 23:00 (17:00 to 21:00 for domestic flights) the same day, priced at 5,780 yen for Size 160 (as of 2026).5
Haneda same-day delivery does not go to conbini branches, Airbnb-style properties, or unstaffed hotels without a reception desk. If you have no staffed address, address the parcel to a Yamato sales office and collect it during business hours.5 Yamato also states it does not offer same-day delivery to Narita Airport under this plan.5
From Narita Airport, same-day delivery to a hotel is available on condition the bag is dropped at the airport TA-Q-BIN counter by 10:30, or 09:50 at Terminal 3 (as of 2026; confirm current cutoffs with Yamato Transport).6 No selectable time window applies, remote Tokyo islands are excluded, and eligible areas outside Tokyo are Ibaraki, Tochigi, Gunma, Saitama, Chiba, Kanagawa, and Yamanashi (as of 2026).6 The 660 yen counter-usage fee has applied at Narita since 2025-06-01 (as of 2025-06-01).6 Yamato warns that bad weather or traffic can suspend acceptance or delay delivery, that one-night stays may be declined, and that Airbnb-like addresses may not be deliverable (as of 2026).6
Sagawa Express offers a parallel Hands-Free Travel network with hotel delivery, airport delivery, temporary baggage storage, and leisure-gear shipping through staffed service centers.3 Use whichever carrier your hotel already partners with or whichever counter is closest; the handling pattern is the same.
Same-day delivery fails when travelers assume it works like hotel delivery. Verify the counter offers it, your arrival beats the cutoff, your hotel sits inside the service area, and the property can accept the bag.
Where to Drop Off and Pick Up
The network is useful because drop-off points are everywhere tourists already go. The constraint is that each point sets its own hours and deadlines.
Drop-off points
Participating hotel front desks are the easiest channel, followed by conbini branches such as 7-Eleven and FamilyMart, Yamato sales offices, TA-Q-BIN agencies, and dedicated airport and station counters.14 Business hours, sending deadlines, and available services vary by sales office, so the cutoff posted at the counter in use is the only one that matters.1
A 100 yen per-parcel drop-off discount applies at agencies, sales offices, and conbini branches, rising to 150 yen for qualifying Kuroneko Members (as of 2026; confirm current figures with Yamato Transport).1 Cashless payment rates run a few yen below cash rates (as of 2026).1
The waybill and what to prepare
The 送り状 (okurijō, "shipping label or waybill") is the form the counter uses to route and track the bag. Write a detailed description of the parcel contents; without it Yamato may delay delivery or be unable to deliver the parcel.12
Prepare the destination hotel's full name, address, postal code, and phone number before approaching the counter. Add the guest name exactly as it appears on the reservation and the check-in date at that hotel.4 A screenshot of the hotel address in Japanese smooths the handoff where English is limited.
Track the parcel by waybill number on Yamato's English tracking site and keep the sender receipt until the bag arrives.1 Senders can also receive a delivery-completed email notification within about an hour of handover.1
Call or message the next hotel before paying. Unstaffed rentals, auto-locked buildings, and some budget properties cannot receive courier parcels, and a refused delivery wastes the fee and the day.
Costs, Sizes, and Timing Rules
Prices move on operator schedules while the size bands stay fixed. Read this section with the as-of dates attached, then check Yamato's live rate finder for the exact bag and route.
Size and weight limits
TA-Q-BIN size is the larger of total dimensions (length plus width plus height) and weight against an eight-band table.1 Size 60 caps at 60 cm and 2 kg, Size 80 at 80 cm and 5 kg, Size 100 at 100 cm and 10 kg, Size 120 at 120 cm and 15 kg, Size 140 at 140 cm and 20 kg, Size 160 at 160 cm and 25 kg, and Sizes 180 and 200 at 30 kg each.1 The absolute ceiling is 200 cm total and 30 kg per parcel, and the longest single side may not exceed 170 cm.1
A normal airline check-in suitcase typically falls in Size 160, within 160 cm total and up to 25 kg.1 Oversized or overweight pieces beyond the ceiling need a different carrier or must travel with you.
Pricing bands
Fares are one-way per parcel, tax included, set by size band plus distance (as of 2026-08; confirm current figures with Yamato Transport).89 The table below gives 2026 guide-level texture for the sizes tourists actually use; treat any single figure as approximate because two guides reading Yamato's official finder in August 2026 disagree on the Tokyo to Kyoto Size 160 fare (as of 2026-08).89
| Bag | Guide fare | As of | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Size 160, within Kanto | 2,510 yen | 2026-089 | Cash price per parcel before discounts |
| Size 160, Kanto to Kansai (Kyoto/Osaka) | 2,630 yen | 2026-089 | Alt. reading: 3,160 yen Tokyo to Kyoto8 |
| Size 160, Kanto to Hokkaido | 3,030 yen | 2026-089 | Longer routes step up with distance |
| Size 160, Kanto to Okinawa | 4,680 yen | 2026-089 | Air routing adds time as well as cost |
| Airport handling fee (Narita, Haneda, Kansai) | 660 yen on top of fare | 2025-07-0127 | Included in displayed Airport TA-Q-BIN rates2 |
| Haneda same-day Size 160, to central Tokyo | 5,170 yen | 20265 | Cash rate after 11:00 cutoff |
| Haneda same-day Size 160, to other listed areas | 5,780 yen | 20265 | Cash rate after 11:00 cutoff |
Yamato raised rates on sizes 120 through 200 on 2025-10-01 while sizes 60 through 100 were left unchanged (as of 2025-10-01).8 Older guides quoting around 2,500 yen for a big suitcase predate that revision. Airport TA-Q-BIN rates displayed on Yamato's page already include the 660 yen airport fee (as of 2026).2
Cutoffs and delivery timing
Normal TA-Q-BIN commonly arrives the next day on Honshu. Longer routes to Hokkaido, Kyushu, Okinawa, and remote islands take an extra day or more.1 Parcels routed by air with undeclared restricted contents can slip a further day, which is another reason to describe contents fully.10
Yamato's hotel guidance is conservative: send before the route-specific cutoff at least two days before the relevant check-in or flight, with some longer routes needing three days.24 In practice, travelers drop the bag by early to mid-afternoon on the day before it is needed, while same-day cutoffs are much tighter and route-dependent at 11:00 for Haneda and 10:30 or 09:50 for Narita (as of 2026).56
The handoff timeline looks like this:
Forwarding takes a day, not an hour. A bag handed over on the morning of a city change will not beat you to the next hotel, and no counter offers a same-hour fix.
Designing Your Itinerary Around Forwarding
Forwarding changes how a multi-stop itinerary feels. Budget roughly one forwarding fee per suitcase per city change and treat the transfer day as a sightseeing day, not a moving day.
The day bag strategy on transfer day
Forward the main suitcase a day ahead and ride the shinkansen transfer with only an overnight day bag. Pack documents, medication, chargers, sleepwear, and one change of clothes in that bag.210
Anything irreplaceable or needed before the next-day arrival stays with you. Yamato bars cash and securities, credit and bank cards, passports and other hard-to-replace documents, irreplaceable manuscripts and media, pets, dangerous goods, parcels valued over 300,000 yen total, and anything unsanitary or unlawful from its parcels.10
Set aside medication, chargers, sleepwear, and the next morning's clothes first. Once the suitcase leaves the counter, nothing inside it is reachable until the next hotel desk hands it back.
Shinkansen stairs, crowds, and oversized baggage
On the Tokaido, Sanyo, Kyushu, and Nishi Kyushu shinkansen, baggage with total dimensions over 160 cm up to 250 cm counts as oversized and requires a reserved seat with an oversized baggage area.11 Booking mechanics for that seat type belong to Booking Shinkansen Tickets and Reserved Seats. Boarding with such baggage without a reservation incurs a 1,000 yen carry-on fee (tax included) plus crew-directed storage (as of 2026; confirm current figures with JR Central).11
The reservation itself costs no more than the ordinary reserved-seat fare when booked correctly.11 Baggage over 250 cm total cannot be brought aboard at all.11
Even a bag within the rules is slow through major stations. Long underground passages, stairs, escalators, and rush-hour crowding make hauling large suitcases draining, a pattern covered from the manners side in Shinkansen and Train Etiquette for Visitors, and a bag near 160 cm total can tip into the oversized band once wheels and handles are counted. Forwarding it sidesteps both the reservation scramble and the 1,000 yen no-reservation fee (as of 2026).11
Good to know
Forwarding takes a day, not an hour; hand off a day ahead
Same-day exists only on narrow airport-adjacent corridors with morning cutoffs. The hotel-to-hotel baseline is next-day, so start the handoff the day before the transfer rather than on transfer morning.256
Airport deliveries need extra lead time, especially departures
Hotel-to-airport sends need arrival one full day before the flight, with two to three days of sending lead depending on origin.24 Confirm the airport, terminal, counter hours, and pickup deadline before paying. Never schedule collection so tight that one train delay breaks airline check-in.
Unstaffed rentals may not accept your bag
An unstaffed rental without a reception desk may refuse or be unable to receive a forwarded bag. Yamato's Haneda same-day terms exclude Airbnb-style and unstaffed properties outright, and Narita terms warn Airbnb-like addresses may fail.56 Confirm with the host first, or address the parcel to a Yamato sales office for self-pickup during business hours.
Keep valuables, medication, and that night's essentials with you
Cash, cards, passports, medication, electronics needed en route, and that night's change of clothes stay in the day bag. Yamato bars cash, cards, passports, and valuables over 300,000 yen from parcels, and anything needed before a next-day arrival is unreachable once handed over.10
Same-day costs roughly double the standard fare
Haneda same-day pricing runs about double the standard next-day fare for the same bag. A Size 160 bag prices near 3,170 yen standard by secondary arithmetic (Kanto rate plus the 660 yen airport fee) against 5,170 to 5,780 yen same-day (as of 2026; confirm current figures with Yamato Transport).59 Confirm both figures at the counter because neither is fixed across routes.
See also
- Coin Lockers: Sizing, Cost, and the Real Risk of None Available
- Check-In in Japan: ID, Deposits, and What to Expect at the Front Desk
- Your First Ryokan Stay: A Step-by-Step Guide