VoiD

From IAD I land at NRT at 3:15PM. I have a dinner reservation at Ishikawa in Shijuku-gu at 6PM. I will be leaving from HND at 1:55AM to ICN. Instead of carrying around my large check-in luggage, I want to store it somewhere.

Will I have enough time to go to HND to store luggage and make it to the dinner reservation or would it be better to store luggage at some subway station? Which station would you suggest?

Thank you!

evergrn

There's no way unless you postpone dinner till 7pm.

Even going straight to Shinjuku (via NEx leaving at 4.19pm... you will want to take NEx instead of keisei since you have a luggage), you will just barely make it on time as that train gets you to Shinjuku station at 5.44pm. No guarantees that there will be a large locker available in Shinjuku available at that time. And you won't have much time searching for one either.

evergrn

Found a cloak service at Shinjuku station via google.

http://www.sagawa-exp.co.jp/ttk/servicecenter/basta.html

you can store your luggage with them while you eat. Inside the bus terminal.

Getting to to Shinjuku at 5.44pm is not a lot of time, though, to be heading over to this place or looking for lockers. Maybe you will have to take the Skyliner although taking yamamote with luggage is no fun.

ksandness

Especially not at rush hour. Carrying luggage on the Yamanote during rush hour would be quite an ordeal. I agree that you should postpone your dinner. Even eating at 8PM will give you plenty of time to make your way to HND.

VoiD

Thank you for the suggestion. I should haven been more clear. The restaurant is actually near lidabashi station.
I wish I could postpone dinner time but it is very hard to get reservation there and I really want to go there.

Now I am thinking about taking skyliner to Ueno and leaving luggage there. Are large size coin lockers hard to come by? Any way to reserve lockers or are there any carrier services that might hold the luggage for me like in airports that are open until late?

evergrn

Google search doesn't identify any cloak service at Ueno Station. Basically the only such places in Tokyo that stay open late seem to be at Tokyo and Shinjuku Stations. Someone else said a long time ago here at FT that most hotels in Tokyo are happy to accept your luggage for a while, even if you're not staying there. I don't know if that's true... I've never tried such thing. There are some budget hotels in Ueno.

After you get off Skyliner at Keisei Ueno, look for a free locker. If you can't find any, then make your way onto Iidabashi and look for a locker there. Between Ueno and Iidabashi, I think chances are good that you'll be able to find a large locker. But it's hard to say for sure. If you can't find any there either, you'll have no choice but to take the luggage to the sushi place. Not sure how a small sushi place will react to that, though. I've been to plenty of casual restaurants (famiresu, dept store ones) with suitcases and strollers. But I've been to many small ramen and izakaya type places where there's very little space and some even with signs saying no strollers and such.

VoiD

thank you.. normally the flights arrive a little early so hopefully I can catch the 4:02 skyliner to Ueno. You mentioned I should take NEX because of luggage, is there limited luggage space in the keisei skyliner?

evergrn

no, that was just because I thought you were headed for Shinjuku, in which case you would've had to transfer to JR Yamamoto if taking skyliner. Skyliner itself is fine for luggage.

NewbieRunner

If the OP arrives in Shinjuku at 5:44pm I don't think he will make it to the restaurant by 6pm even if he gets in a taxi straightaway. The restaurant is in Kagurazaka and the closest station is JR/Metro Iidabashi, Metro Oedo Line Ushigome-Kagurazaka or Metro Tozai Line Kagurazaka.

It might be best to take the Keisei Line which goes through to Nihonbashi and change there to the Tozai Line to Kagurazaka. He'll probably have to take his luggage with him to the restaurant.

This is what I've found on Jorudan.
Leaving Narita Airport on Narita Skyaccess Access Express (For Keikyu-Kurihama) at 16:04, and changing at Nihonbashi to the Tozai Line you will arrive at Kagurazaka at 17:28. The restaurant is 7 mins walk from Exit A of Kagurazaka Metro Station.

evergrn

If it were me, I'd take skyliner to keisei ueno, then xfer to oedo line. Skyliner is so much more comfortable and faster than access train. There's a tunnel from keisei to oedo line at ueno. Bit hard to find but just ask the station employee.

armagebedar

I would take the Skyliner to Ueno, store your luggage, and then taxi to the restaurant (if it is near Iidabashi as you say). If you have time you could also take the Oedo line. When you’re finished you can return to Ueno via the Oedo line, retrieve your luggage, and head to HND.

evergrn

Actually yes that's the best plan.
Hope you find the locker you need at Keisei Ueno. If you can't find one and if you have spare time, then try the JR Ueno station nearby.

NewbieRunner

I think finding a locker large enough could be a problem. You won’t believe the amount of time I’ve spent over the years looking for lockers large enough for my bags at various railway stations in Japan. There just aren’t enough lockers which can accommodate even a carry-on size bag.

NewbieRunner

Information on coin lockers at Keisei Ueno Station (in Japanese).
http://coinlocker.click/keisei-ueno-station.html

and JR Ueno Station.
http://coinlocker.click/ueno-station.html

evergrn

For sure. Hopefully OP will find something. Probably better chances at 5pm than, say, noon.