JJapan Trips

PSA: What to do if your forwarded luggage arrives damaged

  • March 22, 2026

I work in a hotel in Japan and deal with luggage forwarding every day. Damage doesn’t happen that often, but when it does, people usually don’t know what to do — and waiting too long makes it a lot harder to fix.

Here’s what you should do:

Step 1: Report it immediately
Don’t wait until later or the next day.

If you’re at a hotel, tell the front desk as soon as you notice it. Depending on the delivery company, they may be able to help you. For Yamato, you will need to do it yourself via their online form.

If too much time passes, it becomes difficult for the delivery company to confirm when the damage happened. It may also then be too late for them to provide compensation to you.

Step 2: Take photos ASAP
Before using the suitcase, take photos of:

  • The damage
  • The full suitcase
  • The delivery label (waybill)

Speaking of the waybill, don’t throw it away. You’ll need the tracking number and details for any claim.

Step 3: Contact the delivery company
You (or the hotel) will need to contact whoever handled the shipment:

This is where the waybill number and photos will either come in handy or be required.

If you forward again

If you decide to forward damaged luggage, make sure that the hotel (or whoever is forwarding the luggage) knows it was damaged previously. They will mark it on the waybill so that there are no delays.

We have had Yamato (and other hotels) call and ask us about luggage and if it was damaged when we shipped it. This has often led to luggage being delivered after the requested time as Yamato wants to confirm things.

Luggage forwarding still works most of the time, but like I’ve mentioned in my other posts, it’s not 100%.

If you haven’t seen them:

All of those cover other common issues I see pretty often.

Hopefully this helps someone avoid a headache.

by JapanHotelFrontTA

8 comments

  1. The timing of this post appears to be in sync with the other post warning of issue with luggage forwarding!

  2. Always a joy to have you post here, TA. Informative, to the point, considerate. 

  3. Appreciate this post so much! This happened to me last year when my wheel fell off and the suitcase was unusable. After filling out the online form, we “negotiated” the replacement cost over email for 2 days. Yamato eventually sent a courier to drop off cash payment to my hotel front desk to cover the damage, I signed the agreement, and moved on.

  4. Really nice to have someone from the other side of the counter answer here!

  5. Super helpful information thanks! You might know the answer to this: After tokyo, we’re going to spend 3 nights in Okinawa before flying back to Osaka. Could we have our Tokyo hotel transfer our luggage to the Osaka hotel so we don’t have to haul it to Okinawa? Is it standard for them to hold luggage for 3 nights?

  6. Are you an american in Japan?
    How did you get this job?

    Im asking you that, because I want to go to Japan on a student visa, I’m wondering where and how I can get a job…
    🥰

  8. Yamato did offer compensation for damage caused to my luggage but, bizarrely, it could only be in cash (¥Yen) which made things very difficult since I was 3000 miles away in England by then…

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