How Much Does Takkyubin Cost? Japan Luggage Forwarding

Sending one suitcase between hotels in Japan usually costs somewhere between about ¥1,500 and ¥3,000, and the price is set by the bag’s size band and the distance, not by weight alone. A normal check-in suitcase going Tokyo to Kyoto sits at roughly ¥1,650 to ¥2,630 with Yamato Transport’s TA-Q-BIN, as of September 2026. Budget one extra night’s worth of clothes in your day bag, because standard delivery is not something you should plan around arriving the same evening.

Below are the published numbers from the carriers’ own rate tables, the size and weight ceilings that decide which band you land in, and exactly what to hand the front desk when you drop the bag off.

How much does takkyubin cost hotel to hotel?

Yamato Transport prices TA-Q-BIN by “size”, which is the sum of a parcel’s length, width and height in centimetres, with a weight cap attached to each band. Its English rates table states prices in JPY “tax included”. There is no effective date printed on the page, so treat these as current at the time of reading and re-check before you travel.

Here is the full Kanto-to-Kansai column, which is the Tokyo, Yokohama and Narita area sending to the Kyoto, Osaka, Kobe and Nara area, as of September 2026.

Source: Yamato Transport published TA-Q-BIN rates, tax included, as of September 2026.

One detail catches people out: if your bag exceeds the weight limit for its dimensional band, Yamato states that “the size category for the greater of the two will be used”. A compact but heavily packed suitcase can therefore be billed a band or two above what a tape measure suggests.

Which size band will your suitcase fall into?

Measure the three sides and add them up, including wheels and handles, because those are part of the dimension. A typical cabin-sized case lands around Size 100 to Size 120. A large check-in case is usually Size 140 to Size 160.

The hard ceiling for TA-Q-BIN is a total of 200 cm across the three sides and 30 kg, described on Yamato’s service page as “Size 60 to Size 200 parcels (linear dimension of up to 200cm and maximum weight of 30kg)”. Yamato’s Airport TA-Q-BIN page adds a second constraint that matters for oversized items: any single side can be at most 170 cm, and at most 100 cm for packages that must be kept in a particular orientation.

Two more practical limits from Yamato’s own pages. Each TA-Q-BIN parcel is insured up to ¥300,000, as of September 2026. And parcels larger than Size 180 cannot be sent from some convenience stores, so an oversized item may need a Yamato sales office rather than the 7-Eleven on the corner.

Does the route change the price much?

Yes, and for the routes most visitors use, less than you might expect. Sending within Kanto is only about ¥100 to ¥120 cheaper per band than sending Kanto to Kansai; the jump to Hokkaido or Okinawa is where the numbers move. All figures below are from Yamato’s English rates table, tax included, as of September 2026.

Source: Yamato Transport published TA-Q-BIN rates, tax included, as of September 2026.

Dashes mark bands not quoted here for that route rather than gaps in the service. Okinawa is the outlier: at Size 200 it is nearly double the Kansai fare.

Yamato also publishes small discounts for dropping the parcel off yourself rather than booking a pickup. As of September 2026, its Airport TA-Q-BIN page lists ¥100 off at TA-Q-BIN agencies, ¥100 to ¥150 off at Yamato sales offices, and ¥100 off at convenience stores, plus Kuroneko member discounts of up to 15% on the main TA-Q-BIN page.

Is Sagawa Express cheaper than Yamato?

Marginally, on some routes, and the difference is rarely worth crossing town for. Sagawa’s Hikyaku Express is the main alternative, and its English rate tables publish these fares from Kanto, as of September 2026.

Sources: Sagawa Express and Yamato Transport published rate tables, as of September 2026.

Note one genuine inconsistency between the two carriers’ English pages. Yamato labels its rate table “tax included”; Sagawa’s English fare tables carry no tax notation at all, although the Japanese notes accompanying them mark some tables as tax-included. If a few tens of yen matter to your planning, ask at the counter rather than assuming the two tables are quoted on the same basis.

Sagawa’s structure also differs at the top end. Its standard Hikyaku Express covers a single item up to 160 cm total and 30 kg; above that, up to 260 cm total and 50 kg, the item moves to Hikyaku Large Size Express, and an item over 30 kg is charged at the 50 kg rate. Yamato’s practical advantage for travellers is simply that its counters and convenience-store partners are easier to find in English.

How long does hotel-to-hotel delivery take?

This is where you should be conservative. The only next-morning commitment Yamato documents on its English service pages is the paid TA-Q-BIN Time Service, where “parcels accepted by the evening are delivered by 10:00am the following morning” — and even there, the page says the deadline for accepting parcels and the times you can specify “vary depending on the area”. Standard TA-Q-BIN has no published English guarantee of a next-day arrival on every route.

The safe plan for a hotel-to-hotel move is to send the bag the day before you travel, not on the morning you check out. If you send it as you leave, treat arrival on the following day as the working assumption and pack accordingly.

Time Service has its own restrictions worth knowing before you count on it: Yamato lists it as unavailable through convenience store services, unavailable for cash on delivery and return deliveries, and unable to carry items prohibited under the Civil Aviation Act, since it uses air freight on some routes.

Can you send a bag from your hotel front desk?

Often, yes. The Japan National Tourism Organization states that “most major hotels can arrange luggage delivery between hotels”, and that even properties without their own desk service will point you to “a designated convenience store to be sent on”. Ask at reception the evening before rather than on your way out of the door, because the desk may need to prepare a waybill and take payment.

Yamato’s waybill guide tells you what the form actually asks for, which is the part that slows people down at the counter. Have these ready, ideally written out on your phone in Japanese if the hotel gave you a Japanese address:

• Destination hotel’s postal code, full address including building name, and hotel phone number.
• Recipient name. Yamato’s guide specifically says that for accommodations you should use “c/o (recipient’s name)” — so the hotel name, care of your own name as it appears on the booking.
• Your own name, phone number and address as sender. Yamato asks for “a phone number which can be reached easily (such as mobile phone)”.
• A specific description of the contents. The guide is blunt about vague entries: “If a detailed description is not written, it will not be possible to identify the contents.” Write “clothes, shoes, toiletries” rather than “sundries” or “everyday items”.

Fill it in with a ballpoint pen and press firmly, because the waybill is a multi-sheet carbon form. Keep your copy: it carries the tracking number, and at the receiving hotel it is the document that identifies the bag as yours.

What about airport and same-day delivery?

These are the expensive tiers, and they solve different problems. Airport TA-Q-BIN sends a bag to or from an airport counter, and Yamato’s page states that its listed rates “include fees incurred when sending parcels to the airport (660 JPY)”, with Kansai International Airport charging an additional ¥660 for return trips, as of September 2026.

The timing is strict. Yamato asks you to send the parcel “by two days prior to your departure date (three days in some areas)”, after which it is delivered to the airport by the day before departure and you collect it at the counter on the day you fly. Bags left in the return direction can be held for up to one month from the drop-off date.

Same-day delivery runs “between Airport/Station and your hotel” in limited areas. Yamato’s published examples, as of September 2026, are ¥5,780 per piece for a Size 160 bag from Haneda Airport to Tokyo’s 23 wards, and ¥3,470 per piece for a Size 160 bag from the Kyoto Station service counter to an address within Kyoto city. The page notes that fees vary by baggage size and service counter, that cut-off times differ by counter, and that delivery may be delayed by weather, traffic or parcel volume.

So a rough ladder, on the published figures as of September 2026: around ¥1,650 to ¥2,630 for a standard hotel-to-hotel move Tokyo to Kyoto, and ¥3,470 to ¥5,780 once you want it the same day or routed through an airport counter.

What should stay in your day bag?

Assume you and your suitcase will be apart for one night. That means medication, passport, wallet, phone charger, one change of clothes and anything you need for the next morning travels with you.

There are also categories the service will not take. JNTO’s guidance lists valuables, fragile items, fresh products and liquids, and dangerous or hazardous materials as not accepted, and Yamato notes separately that some items cannot be sent “due to the parcel size (length), value of the parcel contents, packaging or the inclusion of dangerous items”. A duty-free bottle of whisky is the classic mistake.

One inconsistency to be aware of: JNTO describes the certified Hands-Free Travel counter service as accepting items “not exceeding 160 linear cm, within 25 to 30 kg in weight, contents are under 300,000 yen in value” as of September 2026, which is tighter than the 200 cm and 30 kg that Yamato accepts for ordinary TA-Q-BIN. If your bag is between 160 cm and 200 cm, a regular TA-Q-BIN counter is more likely to take it than an airport Hands-Free desk.

Frequently asked questions

Is takkyubin cheaper than paying for oversized luggage on the Shinkansen?

Different problem, and there is no single winner here. Forwarding a Size 140 bag Tokyo to Kyoto is ¥2,310 with Yamato as of September 2026, which buys you a hands-free train journey. Whether that beats a reserved oversized-baggage space depends on the fare rules in force when you book, so check the operator’s current policy.

Can I track the bag?

Yes. Yamato’s TA-Q-BIN page links a tracking service, and your waybill copy carries the number you need. JNTO also lists a shipment tracking service among the features of the hands-free luggage services it describes.

What if my next hotel refuses the delivery?

Confirm with the receiving property before you send, as JNTO’s own wording is “most major hotels”, not all of them. If they will not hold a bag, the alternatives are a coin locker, which JNTO prices at between ¥300 and ¥600 depending on size as of September 2026, or sending to a Yamato sales office near your accommodation instead.

Can I send more than one bag on one waybill?

No. Each bag is priced as its own piece at its own size band, which is why Yamato’s same-day examples are quoted “per piece”. Two Size 140 suitcases Tokyo to Kyoto is ¥2,310 twice over, not a bulk rate, as of September 2026.

Do I need to speak Japanese to do this?

Not at a hotel desk, and not necessarily at a counter. Both Yamato and Sagawa publish their rate tables and waybill instructions in English, and JNTO notes multi-lingual support as a feature of the certified Hands-Free Travel counters at major airports. Having the destination address written down in Japanese still removes most of the friction.

Sources

• TA-Q-BIN Rates Table — Yamato Transport (accessed 2026-09-27)
• TA-Q-BIN — Yamato Transport (accessed 2026-09-27)
• TA-Q-BIN Time Service — Yamato Transport (accessed 2026-09-27)
• Airport TA-Q-BIN — Yamato Transport (accessed 2026-09-27)
• Same-day Delivery Service — Yamato Transport (accessed 2026-09-27)
• Preparing Waybills — Yamato Transport (accessed 2026-09-27)
• From Kanto, Hikyaku Express Price List: Standard delivery — Sagawa Express (accessed 2026-09-27)
• From Kansai, Hikyaku Express Price List: Standard delivery — Sagawa Express (accessed 2026-09-27)
• Luggage & Storage — Japan National Tourism Organization (accessed 2026-09-27)