What should I do with my large ski or snowboard bags if I'm visiting Tokyo?
If you land in Tokyo and want a day or two in the city before heading to the snow, you can leave your ski or snowboard bags behind in two ways: store them at the airport, or send them ahead to where you are staying. If you would rather keep them with you, see bringing ski and snowboard bags into Tokyo.
Storing them at the airport is the easiest. Narita has staffed baggage storage counters in both terminals, before security, and they take large items. Ski and snowboard bags count as large, so they are charged at the top rate, and two or three bags for several days adds up.
Check the opening hours of the exact counter you will use, for both the day you drop the bags and the day you collect them. Some counters open early and stay open until after the last international flight lands. Others close in the evening. If you need your bags back while the counter is shut, you cannot get them. The airports list each counter with its hours: Narita baggage storage and Haneda baggage storage. JAL ABC runs storage counters at Narita.
Airport storage works best when your next flight leaves from the same airport. If you land at Narita but your domestic flight to the snow leaves from Haneda, you would have to go back out to Narita to collect the bags first.
The other choice is to send the bags ahead. Japan's luggage delivery companies will carry ski and snowboard bags from the airport to your hotel or ski accommodation, and they have counters in the arrivals halls. Delivery to a ski resort in peak season takes longer than delivery within Tokyo. The airports list the delivery companies and their counters: Narita baggage delivery and Haneda baggage delivery. Yamato's service for ski and snowboard bags is Ski TA-Q-BIN. Yamato asks for ski and snowboard bags at least two days before you reach the resort, or three in some areas. Most of the time they arrive in two, but for Hokkaido you will often be told to allow three to five days, because a snowstorm can stop deliveries altogether. Leave at least a day spare. If your first ski day is the morning after you reach the resort, a late bag means renting gear for that day.
If you can, and it's not too inconvenient, it's best to keep your bags with you. Delivery costs money and takes the bags out of your hands for a few days, and carrying them yourself to one location isn't always the problem the internet makes it out to be. Avoid Tokyo's rush hour, but everywhere else it's normally fine. Even in the Friday evening rush in January and February, you will see plenty of people on Tokyo's trains with snowboards strapped to their backs or wheeling a ski bag. If you are splitting your trip between a week of sightseeing and a week of skiing, you obviously won't want to drag the bags around for the sightseeing week. For a few days in Tokyo staying at one hotel near a station, it's not an issue, as long as you plan your route and your hotel location. See bringing ski and snowboard bags into Tokyo.
