Luggage - Preferred Option
 

Hi,
For one reason or another we've often travelled with large wheeled suitcases. After reading advice online & elsewhere it seems life during our visit to Japan will be a lot easier if we downsize somewhat. The choice seems to be a mid sized wheeled suitcase or a soft wheeled backpack. Appreciate your thoughts on these or any other options - we're both reasonably fit and will travel by train during our 15 day visit. Thanks

a 22 inche wheely works the best for travel we find....anything bigger is may toooo much for train travel, imo...

i don't like back packs, although my carry on is a wheely back pack...i have never used the straps

We like to travel "heavy"

When we are in Japan we use the takuhaibin services for transport of our large bags(26") and travel with our 22" wheeled bags on the trains between towns. That way we can buy what we want and every other town or so we meet up with our "big" bags and unload the stuff we bought in the smaller ones. It also helps if you need heavy jackets in one place, but not the other. See here for information on the delivery service. It is reliable, easy to use and relatively cheap.

http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2278.html

http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2274.html

Aloha!

I use an Eagle Creek convertible backpack as my main piece of luggage. No wheels - they weight heavy when you have to carry your bag, and I find that you often have to do that when using trains - not to mention getting it onto the overhead rack.

Greetings:

You might want to check out these options on the following link:

http://www.patagonia.com/web/us/prod...GE&ws=true

I have purchased 6 pieces from patagonia and have traveled using it from coast-to-coast and throughout Asia several times. The quality of these bags is amazing - they will last forever. Plus the company is one of the most forward thinking and responsible companies in business.

One item to keep in mind is the airline weight requirements. I actually bought several patagonia black hole bags last year because they hold a lot and only weigh 3lbs. Therefore, most of your weight will come from your gear and not the bag! The only downside is that they do not have wheels - this is fine when traveling through airports, but could be a pain on trains....

If you don't see anything you like on patagonia's web specials page, check back often. The frequently update it - all but one of my bags was purchased as a web special.

Enjoy your trip.

Bookmarking

Afterdark, you're getting some good advice here. My strong preference for train travel in Japan would be to restrict yourself to one 22" wheeled suitcase for each person (if there are two of you). And try not to get too burdened with extra hand luggage items (cameras, computers, handbags, etc). Maybe one such item each.
The wheels help with changing trains and moving through stations, and even on escalators. The 22"size might not be possible to put overhead, but should fit in the space behind back-to-back seats.

Thanks folks - your responses have been most helpful - regarding the suggested 22inch suitcase is this the longest dimension or is there some obscure way to measure them. Ijust want to be sure we're getting the suggested size. A quick look at a luggage store here shows as many ways of describing the sizes as there are cases (litres, small/med/lge, total of L+B+H - sigh)

If your suitcase is within the dimensions 21.5" x 15.5" x 9" it will conform with most airlines' limits for carry-on luggage.

rhkkmk -- what brand is your wheely backpak, please?

rhkkmk, you are being paged!

shang, he had the pink one with the little panda bear face on the back of it when we saw them in hawaii.....;)

Mahalo, HT -- at Ross and Marshalls there are a ton of those pink ones with baby panda bear faces, cheap too ... I've already filled a mid-size wheeled case with mac chocs & other not made-in-china goodies already! Aloha!!