From mid-May 2020, all passengers will be required to reserve storage space for oversized baggage when bringing luggage with overall dimensions of more than 160 cm/62 inches onto the Tokaido Shinkansen. No additional fee is necessary for the service, but failure to do so will result in a penalty fee of 1000 yen ($12.93).
In recent years, the number of overseas passengers has steadily increased, along with the amount of large luggage. In light of the upcoming Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games, these numbers are expected to further increase. To cope with this situation, the Central Japan Railway Company has implemented the advanced oversized baggage reservation to ensure the security, safety and convenience of all passengers.
Currently, this will only affect the Tokaido Shinkansen covering Tokyo, Hakone, Nagoya, Kyoto and Osaka. Similar services are scheduled to be implemented on the Sanyo and Kyushu Shinkansen lines in the near future.
To ease train transfers and avoid any luggage-related issues on the ground, our Destination Asia Japan team highly recommends baggage transfers. Please note that in order to add this service, there needs to be a guide with guests on the day of transfer. For smaller cities such as Hakone, our private transfer service only includes the driver (without English-speaking assistant) and we’d advise sending the luggage to the next destination after Hakone.
For further information, get in touch with our travel experts at Destination Asia Japan.
