Send Your Suitcase by Courier | Airport to Accommodation, Accommodation to Airport (Yamato Transport)

Overview

In Japan, you can send large luggage such as suitcases by courier (door-to-door delivery). If you send your luggage ahead, you can travel hands-free through crowded stations and trains. Yamato Transport publishes guidance and price lists in English, so here we use its TA-Q-BIN service as an example to explain three common ways to send luggage.

1. Airport to accommodation: Drop off your luggage at the TA-Q-BIN counter at the airport where you arrive in Japan. It usually reaches your accommodation the next day or the day after.
2. Accommodation to next accommodation: When you move to another city, send it from your current accommodation to the next one.
3. Accommodation to airport: Before the day you leave Japan, send it from your accommodation to your departure airport (Airport TA-Q-BIN). You collect it at the airport on your departure day.

Conditions

Sending from the airport to your accommodation (①)

• At the TA-Q-BIN counter at the airport where you arrive, fill out a shipping slip (waybill) and hand over your luggage. Reservations are not possible.
• TA-Q-BIN usually delivers one or two days after the day you drop off your luggage.
• Narita Airport and Haneda Airport also offer a service that delivers on the same day to hotels in Tokyo and other areas. There is a cutoff time for drop-off and the delivery areas are limited, so check at the counter.
• When you send from the counters at Narita Airport, Haneda Airport or Kansai International Airport, a counter usage fee of ¥660 (tax included) is charged in addition to the shipping fee (this fee applies only when sending from the airport).

Sending from one accommodation to the next (②)

• Check in advance whether your next accommodation can receive your luggage. Some places, such as private rentals (minpaku), may not be able to.
• Yamato Transport's guidance is to send luggage to your accommodation at least 2 days before your check-in day. For distant destinations, you may need to send it at least 3 days before. Some accommodations have set places or times for receiving luggage, so check this as well.
• You can send luggage from the front desk of your current accommodation only if it handles Yamato Transport shipments. If it does not, take the luggage yourself to a convenience store (7-Eleven, FamilyMart, etc.) or a Yamato Transport office.

Sending from your accommodation to the airport (③, Airport TA-Q-BIN)

• Send it by the cutoff 2 days before departure (3 days before in some areas). Your luggage will arrive at the airport counter by the day before departure.
• This service is only for people taking a flight that departs from that airport on the day they collect the luggage.
• You can choose a departure date up to 10 days after the day you send it.
• Narita Airport Terminal 1 is divided into the North Wing and the South Wing. Check with your airline which one you will use, and write it on the shipping slip.

Step by step

Sending to the airport with Airport TA-Q-BIN

1. Ask at the front desk of your accommodation whether you can send luggage with Yamato Transport. If not, take it to a convenience store or a Yamato Transport office.
2. Fill out the shipping slip. In the delivery address field, write the airport name and terminal. You do not need to write the airport's postal code. Also write your departure date and your own phone number, as the person collecting the luggage at the airport (such as a mobile phone you can easily be reached on).
3. Hand over your suitcase and pay. You can send it without a special cover. Staff attach a special tag to the handle so that the shipping slip does not come off.
4. Keep your customer copy of the shipping slip. You need it to claim your luggage at the airport, so do not lose it.
5. On your departure day, show the copy at the airport's pickup counter and collect your luggage. Then check in at your airline's counter.

Costs

The price depends on the size of your luggage and on the regions it is sent from and to. Size is determined by the total of the length, width and height, and by weight. For example, 160 size means up to 160 cm for the three sides combined and up to 25 kg. Luggage over 30 kg cannot be sent.

• Kanto includes Tokyo, Kanagawa, Chiba, Saitama and other prefectures; Kansai includes Kyoto, Osaka, Hyogo and other prefectures.
• The Airport TA-Q-BIN price (sending to the airport) includes a fee of ¥660 (tax included) for holding your luggage at the airport and handing it over to you. This is a different fee from the counter usage fee charged when sending from the airport, but the amount is the same.
• For Airport TA-Q-BIN sent from Kanto, 120 size (up to 120 cm for the three sides combined, up to 15 kg) costs ¥2,700 (tax included), and 200 size (up to 200 cm, up to 30 kg) costs ¥5,130 (tax included).
• The table shows prices for paying in cash. Paying cashless is slightly cheaper. Taking your luggage to a convenience store or office yourself is slightly cheaper than having it picked up (collection service).

Good to know

• Delivery may be delayed by weather or traffic. Leave plenty of time when you send your luggage.
• For how to get from the airport to central Tokyo, see From Narita Airport to Central Tokyo | Skyliner, Narita Express or Airport Bus? and From Haneda Airport to Central Tokyo | How to Choose Between the Keikyu Line, Tokyo Monorail, and Airport Limousine.
• Prices and services may change. This article is based on official information as of the date it was retrieved, so check the latest conditions on Yamato Transport's official website before sending.