MMoving to Japan

Moving to Tokyo from NYC soon.. How can I get my (must have) stuff there?

  • December 24, 2024

I couldn't find any advise on it under the "wiki" section, but I'm sorry if this question has been discussed in the past already.

I'm moving to Tokyo from NYC in a week or so. I got rid of most major (in size) belongings, and I now have everything I would like to take with me in:

2 check-in size luggages
3 carry-on size luggages
a backpack

Each extra luggage with the flight costs $200, which isn't cheap, but seems to be the most affordable option. I would love to combine two of the 3 carry-on size luggages, but they are camera cases, so I need them separately..

My concern is carrying all of that through the airport all by myself. Does anyone have experience checking in this many luggages? Do you suggest shipping some of it via mail? I looked into Kuroneko-yamato shipping service, but it's quite expensive.

Any thought or advise would be much appreciated.

Thank you,

by hbandiet

5 comments

  1. >I looked into Kuroneko-yamato shipping service, but it’s quite expensive.

    Frankly if that is too expensive you need to reconsider your entire moving budget. If you’re balking at a price of at max a few thousand yen something is ***very*** wrong with your budget.

  2. Yamato’s delivery charges are expensive?

    You say “Each extra luggage with the flight costs $200”, but Yamato should be much cheaper than that. Where did you look to find out about the delivery charges?

  3. Just use luggage shipping services at Narita—You can do everything in Eng***r***ish.

    https://www.narita-airport.jp/en/service/delivery/baggage/

    **Note:** If you have gold card, MasterCard, VISA, AMEX*, etc., the luggage shipping services are free.

    * Back in my college dayz, I got roped into getting a “free” AMEX card. In grad school I upgraded to a Gold AMEX. It turned out to be the best damn decision. As a Gold AMEX card holder with a few years good credit history in the US, AMEX Japan automatically exchanged my US card for a Japanese one…thus avoiding the grief most *nama*-gaijin suffer trying to get their first Japanese credit card. And, the AMEX Gold gets me into the airport VIP Lounges. The extra price of a Gold card is much less the luggage shipping and free drinks-&-snacks at the VIP lounge.

  4. I just came back to the US after a living in Japan for couple months. I lugged 2 heavy/oversized check-in suitcases, 2 carry ons & a duffle bag through multiple airports just fine using luggage carts. The carts roll very well even with a lot of weight but I’d say I was maxed out so you may have to roll a smaller bag behind you w/ a luggage strap (can find in Amazon). As others have said, luggage forwarding in Japan is quite affordable & very convenient.

  5. Are you sponsored by a company for a job or anything? You can possibly get them to cover the cost of shipping personal items.

    It won’t be cheap though. In my case I had 5 boxes (1 PC, 1 server, 1 monitor and 2 boxes of personal items) shipped from Australia and that cost $2500 AUD.

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