Japan is a unique place in that every corner of the country is connected with a vast network of railways, especially Tokyo and major urban centers.
Starting from one’s home or office, take the metro train to another part of the town several miles away.
Moving between cities is facilitated by the ultra-superfast bullet train also called the Shinkansen.
If you are an international traveler in Japan and are typically carrying large luggage or several pieces of luggage, moving around can be a hassle after checking out from the hotel in the morning.
This hardship is made easy by the hundreds of luggage lockers that are virtually everywhere in Japan.
Using these lockers, tourists and locals both can move freely without luggage anywhere without the load.
This is a typical luggage locker in one of the main railway stations in Tokyo.
The ones with a green light are available.
The on-screen operation is also very simple.
It displays the map of the rack, and the locker can be easily accessed and opened by touching the corresponding button on the screen.
Once the locker opens, tuck the luggage inside and pay using cash, coins, or card.
The cost for each locker is clearly written on the door panel.
A cabin bag was for 400 Yen while a larger check in bag was for 1100 Yen.
A paper receipt is furnished by the machine.
Keep this receipt safe since it contains the pin to unlock or open the locker again.
Tip: Take a photo of the pin and also share it across with the group that you are traveling via email or messaging.
As seen in the photo above, the lockers are virtually everywhere in the passages between one platform to another on the stations.
If they are secluded, a board indicates its presence as shown in the photo below:
Some lockers are coin operated and do not need money for use.
At one place, I could get my 100 Yen coin back after taking my luggage out.
The process of retrieving the luggage is simpl - enter your pin, and the appropriate locker opens.
Another unrelated but impressive facility that I observed while walking in Japan was the compass tile on the floor.
This was immensely helpful when navigating using my sense of direction or Google Maps that prompts to proceed North or East at an underground place like a metro station.
Also, many station exits in Japan are labeled as East Exit or North Exit.
In such cases knowing the direction is important and the compass tile help immensely.
The luggage lockers facility and the direction tiles indicate how the Japanese travel the extra mile to make the life of travelers easy and hassle free, no pun intended.
A huge thanks goes to @AnubhaBangia for the observation about the lockers and curiosity in the previous post that led me to write this detailed piece.
Have you come across any public facility during travel that helped you a lot or proved to be a time saver?
Please mention in the comments.
