How to book luggage delivery in Japan
A Tegaru booking is made online, in your own language, before you even leave home. Once in Japan, one gesture is left: show a QR code at the konbini counter we point you to. Here is the full sequence, from quote to delivery, including lead times, time slots and edge cases.
- Delivery time
- Next day
- Steps
- 4
- Booking and support
- In English
The principle in one sentence
Japan runs a home delivery network — takuhaibin, of which the takkyubin service operated by Yamato Transport is the best known form — able to collect a suitcase in the morning and deliver it the next day at the other end of the country, to a precise address and within a chosen time slot. Tegaru runs on that network and handles everything that would otherwise happen in Japanese: the booking, the addressing, the tracking and the customer service.
In practice, you book from home before departure, or from your hotel once you have arrived. You state where the luggage leaves from, where it must arrive, when, and how many pieces there are. You receive a QR code. On the day, you show it at the drop-off point and carry on with your day, suitcase-free.
Booking in four steps
The four steps below cover the whole journey. Nothing else is required between payment and delivery.
- 1
Drop-off happens at a konbini, not at your hotel
A hotel can receive your luggage on arrival. To send it, however, you go to the pick-up point — the konbini, Japan's round-the-clock convenience stores — nearest to where you are leaving from. You do not have to find it yourself: enter your departure hotel or accommodation on the site and we tell you which store to use, with its exact address.The drop-off point is sent with your booking confirmation: you know where to go before you even land in Japan.
- 2
Sending it takes two gestures
Go to the pick-up point we indicated, then scan the QR code you received from Tegaru on the store's photocopier. The machine prints the shipping label; the staff take over and register the bag. That is all. There is no form to fill in Japanese, no address to transcribe, no conversation to hold at the counter.A tracking link is sent as soon as the bag is collected: you follow the delivery in real time.
- 3
Delivered the day after drop-off
Your luggage is delivered the day after you drop it off across almost the entire country. Allow two days for Hokkaido, Okinawa and the remote islands, where the distance adds a leg to the route. Delivery is next-day at the earliest: this is not a few-hour left-luggage service, and it cannot return a bag the same evening in the city where you dropped it.The booking form rejects any delivery date earlier than the day after drop-off, so the mistake cannot be made.
- 4
You choose the date and the time slot
You pick the delivery date and the time window at booking, from 8am-2pm, 2pm-4pm, 4pm-6pm, 6pm-8pm and 7pm-9pm — or "no preference" if your day is not settled yet. Nothing further is required afterwards: the chosen slot travels with the shipment, and there is nobody to call back to confirm it.At a hotel the slot matters little: reception holds the luggage until you arrive.
Where do you drop your luggage off?
Three configurations cover almost every trip. The rule never changes: the departure address you enter at booking determines the drop-off point.
From a konbini
From a hotel or a ryokan
From an apartment or a private rental
When should you book?
The booking itself takes a few minutes and can be done the day before. What needs planning is not the booking: it is the one-day gap between drop-off and delivery.
The pattern that works is simple: send your luggage the day before you change cities, or on the morning of departure for next-day arrival. Either way, keep a cabin bag with what you need for one night — toiletries, a change of clothes, chargers and documents.
| Destination | Delivery time | Drop off no later than |
|---|---|---|
| Honshu, Kyushu, Shikoku (Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, Hiroshima, Nagoya, Fukuoka, Sendai…) | Next day | The day before you arrive |
| Hokkaido (Sapporo, Hakodate, Asahikawa) | Two days | Two days before you arrive |
| Okinawa (Naha, Ishigaki, Miyakojima) | Two days | Two days before you arrive |
| Remote islands | Two days | Two days before you arrive |
Many itineraries open with a night in Tokyo after landing at Narita or Haneda. The first shipment then leaves from your hotel, not from the airport: the place you sleep is the departure point.
What to prepare before booking
The form asks for nothing exotic, but two details are often missing when people start filling it in. Having them at hand saves reopening the booking.
- The full address of the departure point — hotel, ryokan or apartment — and of the delivery point.
- The exact name the accommodation was booked under, so reception can identify the bag on arrival.
- The number of pieces and their category: cabin size, or hold size for large suitcases.
- The drop-off and delivery dates you want, along with the time slot.
- A valid email address: that is where the confirmation, the QR code and the tracking link arrive.
- A bank card: payment is made online, in euros, at the time of booking.
What can you send?
The service is designed for travel luggage. The categories accepted and excluded below apply to the whole network, not only to Tegaru.
Accepted without difficulty
- Suitcases of any size, from cabin format to a large hold suitcase.
- Travel bags and hiking backpacks.
- Cabin luggage, often sent alongside a main suitcase.
- Several bags within a single booking: the route is shared and you only have one drop-off to handle.
Excluded from carriage
- Cash and valuables.
- Irreplaceable documents: passport, original travel tickets, identity papers.
- Perishable goods.
- Flammable or dangerous products.
- Anything the law forbids shipping.
Drop-off day, step by step
You arrive at the konbini with your luggage and your phone. The QR code is in the confirmation email; there is nothing to print.
You scan it on the store's multifunction photocopier, the same one used for printing and payments. It issues the shipping label. You hand it to the staff along with the bag, and they register and attach it.
Nothing is payable on site: carriage was paid online at booking. Not a single yen changes hands at the counter. You leave one bag lighter, with a live tracking link.
Who receives the luggage on arrival?
At a hotel: nothing to do
In an apartment: you must be there
That is exactly why the time slot matters more in an apartment than in a hotel: pick a wide window, such as 8am-2pm, if your day is not yet fixed.
How much does a booking cost?
Only three things go into the calculation: the number of bags, their category — cabin or hold — and the distance between the departure region and the arrival region. Exact weight plays no part. There are no handling fees, no fuel surcharge and no last-minute mark-up.
The amount appears in the form as soon as the route and the luggage are entered, before any payment details. The quoted price is the final price, VAT included.
If your itinerary strings together three stops or more, compare the total of individual trips with the flat price of a multi-stop route: starting at €160 for three trips, the route package is almost always the better deal.
Changing or cancelling a booking
A management link is sent to you when you order. It lets you change or cancel the booking without going through customer service.
- Changing or cancelling a booking
- Before 5pm on the day preceding hand-over: no charge.
- Changing or cancelling a booking
- After 5pm on the day preceding hand-over: the full delivery fee remains due.
Once you are in Japan, customer service answers in English, French and Japanese if a date has to move or an address needs correcting. That is the main difference with dropping a bag off alone at a carrier counter: there is someone to reach, in your language, on the day something does not go to plan.
Frequently asked questions about booking
The questions we are asked most often before a first booking.
How far in advance should I book?
Do I need to speak Japanese at the drop-off point?
Can I have my luggage delivered the same day?
What happens if I am not there at delivery?
Can I send several bags in one booking?
Is the displayed price final?
Can I track my luggage in transit?
Does the service cover the whole of Japan?
Ready to book?
The quote appears before any commitment: enter your route and your luggage and the price shows immediately. For a multi-stop itinerary, the flat-price route packages are often the better deal.