Luggage guides
The practical procedures behind the rules: how to book, where to hand a bag in, what it costs and what goes wrong.
Reserving an Oversized Baggage seat on the Shinkansen
The rule that catches visitors out is not a weight limit or a fee — it is that a large suitcase now needs a specific seat, booked in advance, on the Shinkansen lines running west from Tokyo. This is what counts as oversized, which trains apply it, and how to actually get the seat.
Sending your suitcase from the airport to your hotel
The single most useful thing a visitor to Japan can know about luggage: you do not have to carry it. Hand your case in at the arrivals hall and it is at your hotel the next day, usually for less than two people would pay for the airport express.
How to use a Japanese coin locker
Coin lockers are the cheapest way to put a bag down for a few hours in Japan, and they are everywhere — but only if your bag is small enough, and only if you get there before the ones that take a suitcase are taken.
Where to leave a bag when the lockers are full
A locker is the cheapest option and the first to run out. Knowing the three things that replace it — and which of them you can book from your phone on the train — is what stops a full locker bank from costing you an afternoon.
Baggage on Japanese low-cost carriers
The trap on a Japanese LCC is not the size of your bag. It is the seven kilograms — a hard-shell cabin case can be three of those empty — and the fact that the gate has a scale.
Carry-on rules on Japanese domestic flights
The domestic carry-on rule in Japan is generous by international standards — until your flight is on a turboprop, at which point the allowance shrinks by 15 cm and a case that flew out with you will not fly back.
What size suitcase should you bring to Japan?
Choose the case by the thresholds it has to cross, not by the number of days you are travelling. In Japan there are four of them, and each one moves your trip from easy to slightly awkward.
Sports equipment and bicycles on Japanese transport
The one place where Japanese rules are unexpectedly generous: a two-metre ski bag needs no Shinkansen reservation while a suitcase half its size does. The catch is that the exemption is about the category, not the dimensions, and it stops at the train door.
Last checked: 2026-09-09 — Rules and prices change. Coin locker dimensions in particular vary from station to station, so treat the sizes here as a guide and check the official page before you travel.