Shinkansen oversized baggage checker: will your suitcase need a reservation?

The rule in one paragraph

On the Tokaido, Sanyo, Kyushu and Nishi-Kyushu Shinkansen (Tokyo–Nagoya–Kyoto–Osaka–Hiroshima–Fukuoka–Kagoshima/Nagasaki), any bag whose length + width + depth comes to more than 160 cm and up to 250 cm is “oversized baggage”. You may bring it, but only with a reservation for a seat with an oversized baggage area — the last row of a reserved car, with the space behind the seats — or a seat with an oversized baggage compartment, a lockable space by the car entrance on newer trains. The reservation costs nothing extra. If you board with an oversized bag and no such reservation, you pay a 1,000 yen fee and staff put the bag where there is room. Bags over 250 cm cannot be carried at all. Bags of 160 cm or less travel free in the overhead rack or at your feet.

Strollers, wheelchairs, musical instruments in cases and sports equipment in bags are exempt from the fee, but you still need the reservation to use the space behind the last row. Non-reserved cars have no oversized-baggage seats, so the Japan Rail Pass and other passes that are used in non-reserved cars still require you to reserve a seat for the bag — free with the pass. Book on the smartEX app or website, at ticket machines or at a JR ticket office and pick the oversized-baggage seat type.

Other Shinkansen lines — Tohoku, Hokkaido, Joetsu, Hokuriku, Yamagata and Akita — have no reservation rule for big bags, though space is just as tight. Many visitors avoid the question by sending suitcases between hotels with a luggage-delivery service (takuhaibin) and travelling with a day bag; see the pre-trip checklist.

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