Traveling to Japan eventually - Would like some advice.

[bc6]

I'm looking to travel to Japan eventually in 2025 and I'm looking for some luggage advice. I plan on staying for a week which is TBD. Currently, I have a REI Big Haul duffle bag 40 cu and a North Face backpack 25 cu. I don't want to be pushing around luggage, Do you guys think a 40 cu duffle bag will be ok for a week. I plan on using luggage shipping services like Yamato and others to limit carrying luggage. I want to go to several different train shops and pick up some trains while in Japan and go to train related attractions. This will be a repository for my trip-related questions I hope no one minds, If you're interested I will be linking the itinerary below when more is information added.

 

 

 

Edited November 18 by bc6

[Tony Galiani]

Personally, I like to travel light so go as small as possible and use the hotel laundry services (or occasionally just launder an item in the room) if I need to.  Most of the hotels I have been in also have self service laundry rooms.

 

Of course, the question may be - are those bags big enough for all your train purchases and I will have to leave that to shopping grand masters like @ED75-775 and @Kingmeow!

 

Not sure if you are planning to try to carry on your bags when you fly or check them.  The US airlines can be a bit lax about carry-on dimensions but the Japanese carriers will be stricter.  When we flew Takamatsu to Tokyo, one of our bags was about an inch over size and had to be checked.  They are also strict on the weight allowances.

 

Hope this is useful.

Tony

[chadbag]

You can always buy another suitcase in Japan when you are ready to leave to bring your haul of model train stuff back.  We've bought a few cases at Yodobashi for reasonable prices.

 

[Gunzel]

You’ll probably struggle to have a lot of room to bring stuff back I’d think. But it depends on the season and how often you’re willing to wash stuff really. 
 

I’d be hesitant checking a duffle bag with fragile things like model trains in it. As chadbag says you can always pick up a suitcase there, Donki and OFF HOUSE are other good options. I’d consider getting some carryon sized hard shell rolling luggage instead of the duffle if you think you’ll have free space. The barrier free travel improvements in Japan have also had the side benefit of improving the experience with rolling luggage. 
 

I take a roughly 125l suitcase that’s a bit under half full when I leave so I have lots of room to bring stuff back. I also have a messenger bag for day to day carry. Suitcase stays in the hotel, I do washing every three or four days. We move hotels by either moving and dropping off the bag at the new place to check in later or leave it there at checkout and pick it up later and move. Try not to do any activities while also having luggage. On the off chance this can’t be avoided then use takkyubin or a luggage locker. Works ok for weeks at a time.

 

I tend to fill the suitcase up over the trip with goodies and just have to be careful not to get too many books or magazines as it can hold way more than the 23kg weight limit. 

[bc6]

Thanks Gunzel, I forgot that I could pick up some luggage at Donki or some other store, That's one less thing to take with me to Japan. Your suggestion of a hard shell carry on make sense since I don't won't any of my "souvenirs" damaged lol. I always see people dragging their luggage up and down stairs and I refuse to be one of those people. 

 

I like your schedule of washing clothes can you buy laundry detergent from the hotel or.do you have to go to a 7-11 or Lawson to buy some. 

 

 

[bc6]

8 hours ago, chadbag said:

You can always buy another suitcase in Japan when you are ready to leave to bring your haul of model train stuff back.  We've bought a few cases at Yodobashi for reasonable prices.

 

Well I didn't plan on going to Yodabashi but if I must I will lol.

[Kingmeow]

@Tony Galiani, Grand Master????  🤣🤣🤣  But I since I have to live up to that title, I will show this picture to start my post. 🙂  I was going to eventually post it on the forum, but you forced my hands.  😁

 

 

Background details.  It was a 3 week trip with 7 different hotel stays, mostly in the smaller towns other than Tokyo (entry point), Nagoya and Kobe.  All the other places had no train stores.  😞

 

I did my research and pinpointed Nagoya as the mother load with Joshin Super Kids Land (SKL) there.  Kobe was a backup as they have a few stores but not much info on the internet about Kobe trains stores so I couldn't risk that.

 

Once we reached Nagoya, the remaining trip was Kobe, Fuji and finally Tokyo.  So the logic puzzle is if I puchased a boat load (I didn't fanthom it was this much!) what do I do going to the next three places and eventually the flight home to the US on United (Premium Economy so they are a little lax on this class of passengers).  We don't believe in checked luggage due to the hassle, potential loss, damage and theft (we are in the metro NYC area).  We've had stuff stolen from check luggage before so we know the feeling.

 

Thus we went to Japan for 3 weeks with a carry on each.  Our friends thought we were insane.  BUT, the availability of laundry (based on our past trip last year) is not an issue and the cost is quite reasonable.

 

So off we went.  Then yours trule hit SKL in Nagoya and that's when the anxiety level went up a notch, or two. 😬 Tons of fragile stuff and now what?  We decided that the hard case carry on will be the checked piece with dirty clothes and all things not valuable or essential.  Initially we were going to use the hard case for the trains until we looked around for a second hard case carry on and their prices were not as cheap as I thought they would be.  They start at around $50 and up at Don Q. or Yodobashi.  We figure that's a high price to pay for essentially a one time use and it'll sit in the basement for years.

 

We found some really cheap hard case ones in the mall street luggage stores.  They were around $30.  You can tell they were really cheap.  If I really were to go this route I'll definitely spend a little mroe for the quality even if it's a one time use.  Not only for the above mentioned factors, now one person will have to the drag two bags around.  Even with wheels, I imagine it would become unweidly with escaltors, in/out trains, etc.

 

When we were in Yodobashi trying to figure this out my wife came up with a great solution.  Get a soft sided duffle bag like bag.  We got this.  They come in various sizes from 35 liters to 150 L.  We decided on 45 L just by eyeballing it.  It was around 4,000 Yens.  We later found out that you can get the same bag at Don Q. for a couple hundred Yens less.  Also, these bags have a slot/band on the back so they can slide over the handle of your carry on.  Instant wheels without another piece of luggage.  They also fold up nicely when not in use or take with us on our next trip to Japan.  🙂

 

 

We were intially going to get the 35L but the handle opening was too small to comfortably slip onto your shoulders if need be.  Luckily we went with the 45L as it was pretty much filled 100% of the haul you see above with some slight clothes for padding around.

 

Here you see the results.  Left carry on, right hard case carry on becoming checked luggage and the bag goes on as carry on.  As noted above, we went Premium Economy so our overheads were just for us (window two seats) and we didn't have to fight anyone.  NOTE: my wife took the picture with her cell phone and it was angled so that the bag looks bigger than the hard case carry on.  That's not the case.  They are about the same size.

 

 

Good luck on your travels and shopping.  I still have not caught up with home life and day to day living to really post much about my adventures.  Thank goodness jet lag is over!!!

 

I'm going to try and work on the details of finding my father's birth place.  That was quite an overwhelming emotional experience!

Edited November 18 by Kingmeow

[kuro68000]

What is a cu?

 

Since your trip is only a week you don't need to bring too much, but also don't want to spend too much time buying random stuff when you could be doing something more interesting. My usual tactic is to bring stuff I have no intention of taking back. Old clothes I'll throw away, toiletries I can use up or which are too cheap to care about.

 

I usually end up buying a second case when I'm there, because the airlines I use all allow you to have two checked-in cases for free. A cabin sized hard shell is a decent idea for delicate stuff you want to make sure isn't thrown around too much. If the cabin one doesn't have a strap to go over the handle of your wheeled case, get one.

 

If you happen to visit Asakusa there are a couple of shops selling suitcases cheaper than Donki and Yodobashi, but Off House is cheap too if you don't mind used. There are loads in Akihabara as well, if you are visiting any of the model shops there. Daiso and other 100 yen shops have bubble wrap. If you need to ask about it, in Japanese it's called "pikipiki" and the might ask you if you want to put it on your windows (for insulation).

 

For train stuff it's mostly light weight plastic, so space is the issue, not weight. A large case is therefore ideal, but beware that XL size (over about 100L) are not very common in Japan, and not cheap.

 

Posting stuff to yourself is viable too. The post office sells boxes and packing supplies, and the easiest way to arrange it is to use the My Mail website which is in English, and then you just take your package and phone to a Japan Post location that has a terminal (most of them do): https://www.post.japanpost.jp/intmypage/whatsmypage_en.html

[bc6]

@Kingmeow Wow Kingmeow you basically brought everything model train related in Japan huh lol. You and your wife did s good job packing all of that stuff neatly into your bags.

 

@kuro68000 Im no sure why I used cu instead of L for liters lol. You're right since I'll be there only a week I don't need to.bring much but I do plan on going to at least 3 train shops and a couple of tourist attractions plus I wiill be buying items at the train shops but not as much as Kingmeow most likely lol. Thanks for the translation off bubble wrap pikipiki I would have never guessed that one in a million years lol. I will definitely incorporate some of your suggestions into my trip for sure.

[chadbag]

3 hours ago, bc6 said:

Well I didn't plan on going to Yodabashi but if I must I will lol.

 

Well, there are other places.  I assume Don Quijote and other places have luggage at reasonable price 😉

 

We just tend to live at Yodobashi and they do the tax free there easily.

 

48 minutes ago, kuro68000 said:

For train stuff it's mostly light weight plastic, so space is the issue, not weight. A large case is therefore ideal, but beware that XL size (over about 100L) are not very common in Japan, and not cheap.

 

Most places I've seen with luggage also list whether it falls within the "normal size" restrictions for airlines domestically and internationally (which seem to be different).  At least last time we bought some each piece had a sign listing dimensions and volume as well as if it met the various size limitations (O or X)

 

[Kingmeow]

@bc6 yeah, that was the "haul" I was referring to in the Koki thread.  🤣  It could have been more as I discovered Koki's after I got back home and started to play around with the small sample I purchased.  🙂

 

What train stores are you targeting?  Here's some pricing info based on what I experienced.  This is just base on pricing alone, not on stock availability, ease of locating, operating hours, variety of stock, store ambiance, etc.

 

Imon - MSRP but duty free (10%)

TamTam - 10% off MSRP but not duty free

Hobbyland Pochi - second hand shop so prices are set accordingly but not duty free

Kato - MSRP but duty free

Popondetta - MSRP, no discounts (based on my trip from last year so may not be 100% correct)

Yodobashi - some kind of discount off MSRP (10%?) and duty free

Super Kids Land - 10% off MSRP, duty free (10%), 5% discount for credit card (not just VISA, now included MC, etc.  Not sure about Amex.)

 

As you can see, SKL is the best if the cities you are visiting have one (Osaka their flag ship store).  You can net a 25% discount!  😲

Edited November 18 by Kingmeow

[cteno4]

I did a ton of international travel when younger and was always perchanced with punching interesting local crafts and toys way too fragile for checked luggage. My solution was like kingmeow’s in that I had a medium duffle bag I would pack in my luggage. I usually had a checked duffle with clothes and such and a small messenger bag carryon for camera and electronic gear and shirt and underwear for a sacrifice to Murphy for checked bags not being misrouted. I would slowly fill the small duffle bag with the goodies to had carry everywhere on the trip and home.

 

later in life the rolling hard bags came around and those would allow sturdier stuff (like train stuff) to come home in them and again was to move dirty clothes into a lightweight extra duffle bag to make room in the hard bag for the fragile stuff padded with clothes. 
 

Both worked well, many fragile treasures making it home and nary a one broken in transit. I just always packed one or two lightweight but sturdy duffles in my luggage if needed to hand carry something or check a duffle of dirty clothes. But these days checked bags can be very expensive, so care there.
 

My first trip to Japan in 84 I used the extra duffle bag trick and came back with a small carryon duffle filled with windup toys (and a few trains) as I was big into collecting them then. The US customs guy had me open the bag after I answered his question “what is in the bag?” and I said TOYS… he was fascinated and created a small problem holding up the line as he wanted to see one helicopter toy work. Some of the odder issues you can run into when hand carrying stuff back…

 

jeff

[bc6]

@Kingmeow Very nice haul indeed, 

 

The stores I'd like vist are RG-ROKKO, Greenmax and Joshin. Wow thanks for the amazing list of stores and the discounts that they offer this is awesome. I'll try to remember what you mentioned about SKL.

 

@cteno4 I think I'm going your route and bring a 40 L duffle bag with me to stuff trains with and some pikipiki (bubble wrap) in Japanese. I think i may pick up a dry bag to keep soiled clothes in if I don't do laundry while over there. Thanks for the story and tips I appreciate them.

[Kingmeow]

RG-ROKKO I believe is in Kobe.  If you will be there, two other ones that I highly recommend are TamTam (huge!!!!) and SKL in Kobe.

[chadbag]

43 minutes ago, Kingmeow said:

RG-ROKKO I believe is in Kobe.  If you will be there, two other ones that I highly recommend are TamTam (huge!!!!) and SKL in Kobe.

 

yeah. It is about 15 min walk from the local JR stop.   Pretty easy to get to.  And they have lots of stuff and appeared to have stuff that was sold out elsewhere in some cases.

 

 

[bc6]

@KingmeowThanks one of my main stops will be RG-ROKKO and now that you mention it TamTam and SKL. 

 

@chadbagI appreciate the mapping information of RG-ROKKO in relationship to the JR stop my feet thank you too.

[cteno4]

@bc6 I have a nice fine woven nylon laundry bag with a simple draw string I picked up like 30 years ago that is super light weight, flexible (you can stuff it with clothes in it into any shape), and the weave is tight enough I never notice it getting odiferous on the inside or outside in the luggage. I have noticed dirty laundry in luggage can get ranker when I’ve used plastic bags for it. Dry bag may be overkill and they tend not to flex/conform easily. 
 

like kingmeow I do like to use laundry services if affordable and available in places like Japan. Fun laundromatting as well, had some nice chats with people over the years and usually lead to vending machines, snack place or good fast food nearby while the wash was going! I remember one tiny laundromat in Japan had a vending machine for soap and one for beer (beer one was just outside the door, maybe some regulation inside turned the laundromat into a bar), what else was needed! Well maybe some snacks…

 

jeff

[kuro68000]

If you are going to Akihabara then you could check in the Hard Off there too. There are two, last time this one had a little bit of used train stuff: https://maps.app.goo.gl/UjWktMQPivcRPToo9

 

2nd floor from memory, but it might be 3rd floor.

 

Nakano Broadway has some train shops too, with both new and used stuff. Very easy to get to from Akihabara as well. There is Model Shop Popya and a Madarake shop dedicated to model trains. I can't remember if they are on the 2nd or 3rd floor.

[bc6]

@cteno4 I may just pick up one of those woven laundry bags you mentioned I may even have one at home. I hope there is a place to go and do laundry and get to communicate with others I think that would be awesome. I forget there a vending machine for lots of things and laundry detergent should be one of those things especially in a laundry lol.

 

@kuro68000 Tthanks for the additional places to go for trains while I'm out there , I hope I have time to visit a couple of them.

[cteno4]

@bc6 it’s not the mesh laundry bags but just a nice subtle nylon fabric with very fine weave. I think it just lets a bit of air in/out but not too much to smell but enough to not start it cooking… jsut funny as I would always think that two weeks of dirty closes is not smelling much! 
 

yes doing a load or two of laundry can be fun. As tony has noted at times it can be a challenge to figure out how the machines work! Some don’t dry as well just super spin so you need to have time and place to air dry things.

 

i always like the surprised faces when they would see a big blonde white guy in a little laundry. But almost always conversations were struck up and fun. One was having a run to a takeaway ramen shop half block away in a tiny alley way I would have never thought there would have been a business on!

 

jeff

[Kingmeow]

2 hours ago, bc6 said:

I hope there is a place to go and do laundry and get to communicate with others I think that would be awesome. I forget there a vending machine for lots of things and laundry detergent should be one of those things especially in a laundry lol.

 

All 7 of the hotels we stayed in on our trip last month had laundry facilities of one form or another.  The one we used was the Villa Fontaine in Kobe.  I've never seen this but it was an all-in-one machine.  For ¥600, it dispenses the detergent, does the wash and then proceeds to dry everything.  All in the same machine!  No user intervention for about 2 hours on an average load.  However, the two loads we did they both needed extra drying so it was an extra ¥100 for 20 minutes of additional drying per load.

 

The fact that it does everything in one shot allows you to go do something else instead of being nearby to mind the machine(s).  You can do a lot in 2 hours!

[Tony Galiani]

Just don't push the green button and you will be okay!

Tony

[Kingmeow]

Oh, I had forgotten about the Green Button!  Luckily the machines at the Villa Fontaine were all-in-ones!  😃

[bc6]

@Kingmeow That's pretty cool I've never looked forward to doing laundry as I have once I get to Japan lol.

 

@Tony Galiani What does the Green button do?

 

[Tony Galiani]

One would think green means go and so you would use that button to start the machine.  However, the green button actually initiates a rinse cycle so that the machine is cleaned before you put your clothes in it.

 

Last year, we did a laundry but it was not 100% dry so we added some money to extend the dry cycle.  Not quite sure what to do next, and, at that time lacking a translation app, I pushed the green button thinking it would restart the machine.  Instead it rinsed the machine and all our almost dry clothes ... which were now soaking wet.  Somehow, we got the dry cycle restarted but even after two runs, we still ended up with damp clothes all over our room for a day.

 

Cheers,

Tony