Tourists Keep Dumping Their Luggage in Japan, And It’s Becoming a Problem
In cities like Tokyo and Osaka, where visitor numbers are climbing again, hotels and airports are facing a big problem: people are leaving their suitcases behind.
After days of tax-free shopping and outlet visits, many travelers don’t want to carry their original luggage home. Instead of finding a way to discard or donate their old bags, they just walk away from them.
For those tasked with dealing with these bags, it’s become an expensive, time-consuming nuisance.
Hotels Are Storing and Paying to Remove Them
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Due to the influx of unwanted luggage, the Best Western Hotel Fino Osaka Shinsaibashi now sets aside space for storage. This is where forgotten suitcases wait unclaimed for up to three months. The hotel sees up to four per day, which adds to their already full workload. When no one comes back for them, management has to pay to dispose of them.
General manager Kentaro Kaneko said that last year alone, the hotel spent roughly 300,000 yen on baggage removal. Staff must reach out to guests, collect bags from rooms, and coordinate with cleaning companies.
Similar stories have surfaced across Tokyo and other parts of Osaka. One Airbnb manager running dozens of properties said that managing unwanted suitcases is a near-weekly routine.
Tourists Don’t Have Many Disposal Options
Japan’s waste system doesn’t accommodate tourists, either. It’s designed around long-term residents who follow strict local procedures. For this reason, if you want to throw away large items like furniture or suitcases, you will have to go through the sodai gomi system, which involves booking a pickup through the local ward office, paying a fee, and attaching an official disposal sticker.
In many wards, the next available pickup may not be for several weeks. Visitors, especially those unfamiliar with the language or staying just a few days, have little practical way to complete that process. For someone flying home tomorrow, it’s not even an option.
Residents Want Better Infrastructure and More Accountability
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Several locals who work in hospitality or live near short-term rental zones say they’re now seeing “dead suitcases” piling up on sidewalks. While some view this as a minor inconvenience, there are people who argue that it reflects a gap in tourist-facing infrastructure.
Professor Daisuke Abe of Ryukoku University believes Japan needs a better system to handle waste generated by guests. That could include suitcase donation centers, luggage recycling bins at airports, or disposal counters inside hotels with multilingual signage.
Proposed Solutions Are Beginning to Take Shape
A few airports now offer drop-off points for used luggage, but the awareness around them remains low. In some cases, people who donated bags even received small thank-you gifts. Second-hand shops will take bags in good condition, but only if travelers can find them and navigate the process. Local nonprofit groups sometimes accept donations, though they are difficult to locate without help.
Japan’s growing number of visitors makes it likely that suitcase abandonment will continue to surface unless better systems are introduced.