Takuhaibin - Luggage Forwarders

[tequilatamm]

Hey everyone.

We're going to Japan for the 3rd year out of four during Christmas/New Year, and this year, we don't want to cart our luggage around.

We are arriving in Tokyo on the evening of December 22, so we are planning to stay near Tokyo JR at the Marunouchi Hotel.

I understand you can drop your luggage off at one of the Package Forwarding Delivery Service desks at the airport, so we are planning to do that before going into Tokyo for the night, with just our carry-ons.

The following day (which is Emperor's Birthday), we will take the train to Kyoto and stay there for 3 nights, and then travel to Osaka for 4 nights before returning to Tokyo for a week.

So, our plan is to send one of our bags to our hotel in Kyoto and one to our hotel in Osaka when we arrive at Narita Airport.

Then, we will only have to bring our carry-ons on the train from Tokyo to Kyoto. When we leave Kyoto, we will forward that bag back to Tokyo and go on to Osaka where the other is waiting for us. Then forward that one back to Tokyo the day we leave.

Obviously a few questions here for any who might know about this?

1) Will they be running delivery service on the Emperor's Birthday, or will most things close that day?

2) From what I can gather it takes about 24 hours for luggage to get from point A to Point B, however what I'm reading may only be within the same city. Can anyone tell me if the 24 hour time frame is the same for getting bags from Tokyo or Narita to Osaka/Kyoto?

3) If you are forwarding bags to a hotel and you are not going to be arriving at the hotel for 2 or 3 days after your luggage arrives, do most hotels have facilities where they can store the luggage until your arrival? I'm assuming we'll need to contact the hotels prior to let them know our luggage arrangements.

Any advice from someone in the know would be much appreciated!

[JonB]

I don't think Takubin ever closes! The one exception may be new years day.

The Emperors birthday this year is a Sunday so the national holiday will be on the 24th.

Between the major cities you are talking about 24 hours is the generally accepted time frame. Going out into the boonies may take a day longer.

Hotels will keep your luggage - it would be polite to contact them before but I don't think that it matters much.

[tequilatamm]

Thanks for the concise reply, JonB.

I'd forgotten that the Emperor's Birthday was on a Sunday this year. We were actually trying to plan it so we'd be spending a large portion of the holiday on a train.

Does this mean that shops and things will be closed on the Monday?

[JonB]

Does this mean that shops and things will be closed on the Monday?

You should be OK in Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto. On new years day pretty much everything is shut - but other than that you're OK.

One thing to remember about 24th December though is that it is the big night out for couples so the good restaurants and love hotels will be full It's the closest they come to what we call Valentines in the West. They have valentines but it is all about girls giving boys (giri) chocolate...

[ddell]

I don't have any experience with luggage forwarders during Christmas, but I thought I would add some general comments that might help you.

We shipped our luggage this last April and we were surprised how careful they were with the luggage. We first had it sent from Tokyo to Kyoto and when it arrived, it was sealed in heavy plastic bags. Fortunately, we saved the plastic bags because we got a discount when we sent the bags back to Tokyo because we already had the plastic bags!

Our luggage took less than 24 hours in transit, even though that's the advertised time. We had to drop it off by 5pm and it arrived the next day at noon.