It’s not as easy or magical as youtube videos will tell you, and yet it is very practical. I recommend using it.
The system
While travelling in Japan, you can use the Yamato transport to have your luggages deliver at your next step. It is very convenient and useful :
- the stations can be quiet busy
- the elevators/escalators may not be practical
- the trains only accept smaller luggages or you need to book a specific tickets to have a spot on the “big luggage” space
The system is called Ta Q Bin (takioubine) and it is widely known. You can send your luggage from your hotel or a local “combini” (minimarket) like Family Mart or 7/11.
The caveats
- not all hotels accept luggages via TaQBin
- it’s quite daunting to send luggage the first time
- you need to tick a special box for sending to yamato office or a combini
- most likely you will be able to have “same day” delivery so you need to plan ahead
The tips
- you can send in advance your luggage in advance, so think about skipping a step in your travels
eg : we travelled from Osaka to Takayama, to spend 2 days there, and then off to Kyoto. We sent the luggages directly to Kyoto, saving money and stress :D
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use the map to locate the stores that allow shipping your luggage (in case your hotel does not want to do it) : https://locations.kuronekoyamato.co.jp/p/yamato01/
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check the right check box if you are sending to either a Yamato office or combini (mini market)
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track your luggage with the code on the waybill : https://track.kuronekoyamato.co.jp/english/tracking
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use the japanese version to get more infos in case of issues : https://toi.kuronekoyamato.co.jp/cgi-bin/tneko and use firefox (or even better ZenBrowser) for offline japanese translation of the website