Conclusions first. I recommend sending your large luggage from Tokyo to your hotel in Kyoto and taking only 1-2 nights' worth of clothing in a small bag to Kusatsu Onsen. If the total length, width and depth is 160 cm or less, the shipping cost is approximately 2,500 yen. Here is why I think so.
About 20 years ago, the percentage of foreign travellers in Japan was less than 5%. At that time, it was okay to take a large suitcase with you on the Shinkansen, you could place it behind the last seat or in the aisle, because there were very few tourists bringing big suitcases.
However, the situation is now very different. The proportion of foreign travellers is around 25% and is increasing year by year. Moreover, the number of travellers from Europe and the US (albeit small overall) is increasing more rapidly than average. From the Japanese tourism industry's point of view, it is gratifying that tourists from Europe and the US tend to stay longer and spend more money, but on the other hand they are used to the Western way of doing things and do not understand that public transport in Japan is not designed for large luggage. In the West, it seems that long-distance
trains either have luggage storage, or large luggage is checked in like they do on planes (I'm Japanese, I don't know everything, that's what the following video says).
So, there's been quite a lot of talk on Japanese social networks recently about foreigners who bring large luggage onto public transport, and the overwhelming majority of Japanese people condemn such foreigners. For example, JR Tokai says that the oversized luggage space on the Tokaido Shinkansen is by reservation only, and you are not allowed to leave it without a reservation, but there are foreigners who leave it here without a reservation. So they get into trouble with Japanese who have reservations but come later, and the Japanese are angry that the foreigner's side does not give up. Videos of people boarding commuter-type trains in groups and blocking the aisles with suitcases have also come under fire.
The linked video explains JR's new approach, which is to open up the oversized luggage section (complicated, but this is different from the aforementioned oversized luggage space) on the Tokaido Sanyo Shinkansen deck, without the need for reservations. It won't work, says the person (a railway geek) in this video. Eventually, people will not stop occupying the oversized luggage space at the back of trains without a reservation, and there will continue to be trouble over it. Japanese people get angry, foreigners get angry and conductors get very annoyed. The person in this video has the opinion that some of the seats on the Tokaido and Sanyo Shinkansen should be collapsed to make a free luggage space for anyone to put their luggage. I agree with him, but the reality is that this is not happening soon, so we need to think about what to do on the assumption that it is not happening.
I recently travelled the Alpine Route from Kagoshima via Kobe and sent my suitcase from Kagoshima to my hotel in Shinano Omachi and back from the hotel to my home in Kagoshima. The shipment fee was 5700 yen round trip. On this trip we took the Rapid commuter train from Sannomiya to Osaka, the limited express Thunderbird, the Hokuriku Shinkansen, the Alpine Route, slow trains on the Oito Line, the Hokuriku Shinkansen, the limited express Thunderbird and the Rapid from Osaka to Sannomiya, but large luggage seemed to be gimpossibleh except on the Hokuriku Shinkansen and limited express Thunderbird. Taking into account the walking between stations, it would be very difficult to carry the suitcases by ourselves, and we could be a nuisance to others on the train. Of course, there is possibility that we are the only ones on the train, and in that case, we can leave our luggage anywhere and it won't bother anyone. However, that is unlikely to be the case in view of recent overtourism.
If you want to travel hassle-free and trouble-free, the courier service is the only way to go. Alternatively, reduce your luggage and travel with only as much luggage as you can fit in your luggage rack. Even suitcases can be placed on the overhead racks of trains if they are large enough to fit in the luggage racks on the plane. This is usually sufficient for most trips to Japan, and you can take only three days' worth of clothes and wash them at the hotel. Japanese gbusiness hotelsh (cheap hotels for commercial travellers, actually also used by tourist travellers) usually have coin-operated laundries, and more and more international-brand hotels have them these days.
I think luggage forwarding in Japan is 5 times easier than you may think (hotel staff will assist you) and 100 times reliable.
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