Originally Posted by Pickles

To answer the OP's question, yes, it's still a problem. Flew into HND, arriving at 2 PM or so and wanted to store a couple of bags for a few days so as to not carry all this excess junk that wouldn't be helpful for my Japan leg of the trip. The departure luggage counters (one run by JAL ABC and another one, near by) both had signs outside that said "FULL." The JAL ABC one would take my bags if I was only storing them for the day. Asking nicely at the other one, and they let me store the bags for a few days. So even though they said "FULL" it probably doesn't hurt to ask.

As for this being a continuous problem, I don't see how it wouldn't be unless they increased the storage capacity. HND is a zoo, which is more of less a microcosm of what much of Japan is like. Sometimes bordering on the unpleasant: lines everywhere, need to book restaurants (and even menus!) in advance, not a lot of capacity in the system at this point.