Send your luggage ahead in Japan.
Whether you can comes down to where you are staying.
Five or more of you, wrestling suitcases onto a coach for two or three hours — that ordeal is avoidable. Japan has a system that delivers your bags to your accommodation. But it will not reach an unstaffed property.
*This is an informational-only article and contains no affiliate links. We note this for transparency, as a site-wide policy.
Starting pointYou can send from the airport
Fukuoka Airport has Yamato Transport takkyubin counters. Hand over your bags in the arrivals hall and travel light from there.
- International terminal, 1F (08:00-21:00)
- Domestic terminal 2, 2F (07:00-21:00)
We are not putting prices or delivery times in this article. They vary with size, distance and season, and we cannot keep accurate figures up to date. Yamato Transport's official site has a fare search and a delivery-date search — use those. Not publishing guessed numbers is a policy here.
* Opening hours as of Aug 2026. They can change.
Three checks that tell you which properties can receive it
Japanese takkyubin is built around handing the parcel to a person. When you send to a property, staff there receive it on your behalf. So everything hinges on whether there is somebody to receive it.
Whole-house rentals and private-stay listings often hand over keys with nobody present, which means nobody to take a delivery. Even at a staffed hotel or ryokan, arriving before check-in opens can mean the parcel is refused.
1. Is the front desk staffed?
A hotel or ryokan is generally fine. Conversely, an unstaffed property or key-box check-in has nobody to take the delivery. The most sought-after whole-house rentals use exactly this model, so the better the property looks, the more care this needs.
2. Will someone be there on your arrival day?
Even when staffed, a parcel arriving before check-in opens may not be accepted. If you are arriving late, tell them that too.
3. Have you asked how to address it?
Without the guest's name and the arrival date on the label, staff cannot tell whose parcel it is and may refuse it. Ask the property how they want it written.
Once you have booked, send your accommodation this message
Right after booking is the best moment to ask. Copy the text below and send it to the property as it is.
宿泊予定の〇〇と申します。到着前に宅急便で荷物を送りたいのですが、可能でしょうか。
到着予定日は〇月〇日です。受け取っていただける場合、宛名の書き方（宿泊者名の記載方法）も教えてください。
Send that Japanese text as it is — do not translate it. It is written to be read by the property. (It says: "I have a booking under [name]. May I send luggage by takkyubin before I arrive? My arrival date is [date]. If you can receive it, please also tell me how to address the label.") There are only three things you need to know — whether they will take it, from when, and how to address it.
Not a dead endWhat to do when you can't send
Families who have booked an unstaffed property still have options.
- Send from the property after check-in — on the way back you can ship to the airport or your next place. You only endure the outbound leg
- Station coin lockers — the large ones are few and fill up in the morning
- Left-luggage counters — found at major stations and tourist information centres
- Pick a staffed property for arrival day only — a ryokan for the first night and a whole-house rental for the rest also works
How this fits with our other guides
Luggage questions have different answers in different situations, so we split them up. This guide covers one thing only: telling whether a property can receive a delivery.
- Staying in a whole-house rental or private stay — bin separation and unstaffed check-in etiquette are covered here (see what to know before a whole-house rental)
- Taking large suitcases on the shinkansen — some lines require you to reserve oversized-baggage space (see large luggage on the shinkansen)
- Staying in Kyoto — luggage delivery pays off especially well inside the city (see getting around Kyoto)
Honest drawbacks: what to know before you send
It is a genuinely useful system, but there are things that catch out families arriving from abroad.
Questions worth settling before you send
Will it get from the airport to my accommodation the same day?
It depends on the distance and the time you drop it off. Do not plan around same-day delivery. Send from where you stayed the night before, or send with time in hand. Delivery times can be looked up on Yamato Transport's official site.
What if the luggage arrives before we do?
A staffed property will usually hold it, but do not send without contacting them first. Some will refuse. Tell them your expected arrival date, then send.
Can we send passports and valuables?
Please don't. Keep valuables, cash and passports with you. Foreign travellers without an address in Japan are required by law to present a passport and have it copied at check-in.
How many items can we send?
The real constraint is not the number but whether the property can store them. If you are sending six people's suitcases, say so when you ask.
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