‘Lifesaving’ suitcase hack if you’re travelling around Japan

Dragging luggage around is one of the downsides of any holiday when you’re combining multiple destinations.
Especially, if like me, you’re a shopper.
But if you’re heading to Japan, there’s a must-do hack which solves the headache.
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You can send your bags on to your next hotel for less than the price of a sushi lunch.
The service is called takuhaibin or takkyubin, and we used it on our recent holiday.
For most destinations your case arrives the very next day, after being driven by one of the small trucks you’ll see all over in the country.
While you can take luggage on bullet trains, you do need to book a spot for big suitcases.
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And with the city’s train stations famously huge and winding with hundreds of steps and escalators, it’s a pretty lifesaving move in my opinion.
We were able to do it at our hotel reception.
They filled out the form for us – you’ll need your new hotel’s full address as well as your booking number.
They measured our case – and it cost us just $25 to send – which we paid in cash.
We then packed an overnight bag and handed over the case at reception the morning before we were due to catch a bullet train to Kyoto.
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I was a little worried – what if it went astray?
But in true Japanese style it all went off without a hitch and when we arrived in Kyoto the next afternoon our yellow American Tourister was waiting for us at the new hotel.
We did the same thing when we travelled back to Toyko, too, sending it on to our hotel.
(By now, I had visited the famous discount shop Don Quixote and also snapped up a heap of Japanese pharmacy stuff so it was a heck of a lot more hefty.)
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You can even ship your suitcase to the airport too if you don’t want to drag it there on the train.
And if your hotel doesn’t offer the service, ask at the nearest convenience store such as 7/11, as they will likely be able to do it for you.
The writer travelled at their own expense.