If you want to fly to Japan with your own bike then chances you’ll need storage your bike bag or box for the duration of your visit, here are some suggestions.

Hotel

If you’re staying in a hotel for the night of your arrival and then for the night before you fly back then ask them before booking as they might hold luggage for the duration of your trip. It’s worth shopping around for a hotel that will do just this given the paying alternatives below add up. Book direct with the hotel mentioning you want to leave a large case. The tip here would be find the biggest hotel possible, one with a large luggage room. A guesthouse might have its charms but it probably doesn’t have a cavernous luggage room.

Cardboard Bike Shop Boxes

If you don’t travel often you might not own, nor want to own, a bike box. So you could ask a local bike shop for a cardboard box that a new bike arrived in and recycle it into a travel case, dispose of it on arrival and find a bike shop in Japan with a box to spare. So far so good but it won’t be easy disposing of the old box on arrival, Japan just doesn’t do bins and dumpsters. Then arranging for a new box from a bike shop requires co-ordination, you probably need a friend on the ground who knows the shop, or a friend who works in the shop.

Ride from the airport

Even if you don’t fly with JAL you can currently use their ABC baggage services at Tokyo Narita, Tokyo Haneda as well as Kansai Osaka and Chubu Nagoya airports and they’ll store a bag or box for between ¥850-1050 a day depending on the airport. This opens up the prospect of being able to fly in to an airport, collect your luggage off the carousel, clear customs, build-up your bike and cycle out of the airport (well not Kansai or Chubu as they’re islands with a train-only connections).

Coin Lockers

There are many coin lockers at larger railway stations which sounds great. Only most are too small. Rare extra-large ones may take a soft bike bag if you can bend it. The challenge is finding an empty one when you need it. The deal breaker is they often have time limits, typically you can’t leave items inside for more than 3 days.

Baggage Counters

The larger rail stations have dedicated luggage counters, think Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto. These are run by the rail company Japan Railways (JR) or others. Some have size limits, for example Sagawa Transport stores baggage in Tokyo station… but the length, width and depth of your luggage can’t be more than 200cm. My Trico Ironcase is 120cm long, 80cm wide and 30cm deep when empty so it’s 120+80+30=230 which is over the limit. JR East in Tokyo station say they will take items up to 250cm, so measure at home.

Cycle in Japan and you’ll recognise the Yamato company’s trucks with the black cat logo. While they’re primarily a parcel and luggage courier they also have some luggage storage services. Their English language map page lists locations, look for the places with the temporary luggage feature shaded blue. They have one in Onomichi if you’re aiming for the Shimanami Kaido.

Another option is the Ecbo Cloak app. It aims to do what AirBnB and Uber have done for accommodation and taxis, here putting people with space to spare in touch with people like you needing to store items. You can chose from many towns and cities and browse the offerings with their opening hours. The app is designed so you can just show up and drop-off, you don’t need to talk a lot. You can make bookings up to two months in advance so you’re likely to secure the space needed. Bike boxes are ok as they qualify as large items according to the app. But beware as the local rules of the drop-off location win. So if the FAQs of Ecbo Cloak suggest a bike box is fine in general, if it the drop-off is a Japan Rail luggage counter then JR’s rules apply.

Travel tips

  • you can fly into Tokyo with your bike and begin your bikepacking adventure on the same day
  • if you can wait a big corporate, soulless hotel might not be want you want for the first and last night. But they can often store luggage for free
  • if there’s more than one person put more than one bike bag inside another before handing it over for storage. You’ll save on the daily charges when registering and also save space inside the luggage room
  • know your luggage size

Important note: info here is shared to help travellers with some bike box storage suggestions and not an endorsement for any service. It’s subject to change. I’ll try to keep it updated but if you’re making plans do check before you book and double-check before you travel to make sure it works or drop me an email for the latest. And if you have any tips please share them for the next reader…