Hi team

I have a flight arriving NRT 1925hrs then I depart KIC 2125hrs the next day

My plan is to Shinkansen down to Osaka and therefore I would like to send my bigger bag and pick up from there

is 26 hours here playing with fire? Of course it’ll be more like 20 once Narita immigration and Jetstar check in come into it but, it’s technically next day right?!

(admin please merge if there is a master thread)

Takkyubin requires two days ahead for sending to an airport. Also, last shinkansen to Shin Osaka from Shinagawa leaves at 9:31PM, just about two hours after scheduled arrival. It would be good to have another plan in place if you can't catch that final train.

I’m staying in Tokyo for the first night so bags (!) of time for moving me but not the luggage

Overnight sleeper train dep Tokyo 9:50 PM but reservations required

JR Sunrise Seto and Sunrise Izumi Sleeper Trains Guide and Map - Inside Kyoto

Night trains don't solve the luggage issue - In fact, depending on the accommodation selected, an oversize suitcase may be out of the question.

My advice to OP - Try to pick a hotel in Tokyo that allows for an easy walk from the N'EX platform and to the Shinkansen platform. Shinagawa station might be a better bet than Tokyo. For the Shinkansen ride to Osaka, be sure to book dedicated luggage space when you reserve seats.

yes that’s exactly what I’ve done
i was going to go green car nozomi (as I’ve never done it and always wanted to) but haven’t booked yet

bag isn’t enormous (60L backpack and a carryon size suitcase) so not the end of the world but I’m just conscious that it’s not the way

ETA I see I have timed myself to perfection with Golden week. Best get on it!

Another option - Stay at NRT and fly Jetstar from NRT to KIX next day.

Why not just bring your bag with you on the shinkansen? I just got back from a shinkansen-heavy trip (green car JR pass), with a large checked, smaller carryon, and a backpack. On the Hikari and Sakura green cars both ways, I was able to get either a baggage seat or a luggage storage area seat in all directions and when someone who didn't book one of the luggage seats and had their bags stored behind, the conductor made them move their bags. That said the overhead luggage area on the N700S is pretty large, saw several full size checked stored above with no problem.

I travelled with a 70L backpack (as well as a small carry-on sized backpack) and was able to (just) fit the big backpack on the overhead luggage storage on the shinkansen (Tokyo - Echigo-Yuzawa, Echigo-Yuzawa - (Omiya) - Sendai and Sendai - Tokyo). When I went to Otsuki, Yamanashi Prefecture on the Azusa limited express, there was space in the luggage storage by the vestibule.

Perhaps I will invest in some of those luggage vacuum bags to try and limit the linear dimensions as much as possible and attempt to travel with it

i’m not totally averse to flying (likely would be from Haneda if so) but sort of wanted to do the Shinkansen thing and maybe check out Osaka a little bit (have been to Japan about 100 times including the 18 months or so I lived there but have never been to Osaka other than the airport and train station)

I will always prefer shinkansen over flying if I can make it work, the timing isn't really much different when you take in to account getting to/from HND/KIX, getting through security, and waiting at the gate, taxi, takeoff, etc, and the experience onboard is much better.

What time are you planning to leave Tokyo and arrive at Shin Osaka station?

This will determine how long you have for sightseeing before your flight departs KIX.

Are there any particular sites you want to see in Osaka?

Your best option may be to head to Namba station on arrival into Shin Osaka station and store your luggage in a locker at the station.
Namba is close to Dotonbori.

Wonder if I could piggyback on this thread with a couple of extra queries.

First, sending from HND T3 to a hotel in central Tokyo. I'm seeing a lot of conflicting information (I think some of the English language sites may be out of date).

Some say Yamato no longer does same day from T3 - others says it's does, but with quite a supplement.

Some say that you can pre-book JAL ABC as long as you have an FF card - others imply that this is for Tokyo Bay area hotels isn't.

Finally, I've seen recommendations for Ecbo delivery, which seems to be run from a stall at the Keikyu station.

Any thoughts between these? I would like the luggage by early evening. The alternative would be lockers at Hamamatsucho and then a taxi from there later on.

Secondly, we'll have an Airbnb in Kyoto. How reliable is konbini delivery? There's a Family Mart round the corner - alternatively, we could pick up from the Yamato office near Kyoto station as we'll be taking a taxi over anyway. Bags will be coming from Tokyo or Nagoya, depending on logistics.

Thanks!

in the end I sort of did this but at Tennoji and then headed to Osaka Castle followed by the radium onsen

note the “coin lockers” at Tennoji and possibly other places now don’t accept coins only some kind of Suica thing. And the machines that sell the cards don’t accept the newest version of a 1000 Yen note

Just to update with recent experience in case it's helpful.

We ended up using Airporter to get the luggage from Haneda to our hotel in central Tokyo. Was a great service! As we had an early arrival at HND and a 24h room at the Villa Fontaine Grand, it worked well, as they are able to pick up directly from the airport hotels (rather than dragging the cases to the Yamato/JAL counter - the the ECBO one opened too late for us) and do same day delivery. Lots of photo updates, ended up being delivered by 2pm.

Then used Yamato via the hotel to send our bags to Kyoto, but the AirBnB owner offered to take them for us, so that part was easy.

To anyone hesitating to use this service, I'd say: go for it. This was our fourth trip to Japan, but the first with our son, and so the luggage was much more than before. It made moving around so much less stressful and time consuming.