Tourists are leaving behind a crucial travel item, it's a headache for Japan's hotels, airports

A surge in foreign visitors is leaving Japan with an unusual problem: piles of abandoned suitcases.

Hotels, airports and busy tourist areas have reported rising cases of travelers discarding old luggage after buying new, larger suitcases to carry home souvenirs and shopping hauls.

In Osaka’s Minami district, a suitcase left on the street this month unsettled a 19-year-old karaoke bar worker. “I don’t know what might be inside, so it’s scary,” she told Nikkei.

At Best Western Hotel Fino Osaka Shinsaibashi, three or four suitcases are left behind in rooms on some days. The 161-room hotel stores them in lost and found for three months, but most go unclaimed. Disposal cost the hotel about 300,000 yen ($2,000) last year.

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“It places a heavy burden on our staff, who have to contact the guests and bring the suitcases out of the rooms,” Nikkei quoted general manager Kentaro Kaneko as saying. The hotel now gives unclaimed luggage to a cleaning company.

An Osaka Convention and Tourism Bureau survey in June and July found more than 80 per cent of 34 hotels said abandoned suitcases were a problem.

Airports are also struggling. Narita International Airport near Tokyo reported 1,073 dumped suitcases in fiscal 2024, more than double 2019 levels. Kansai International Airport has also surpassed pre-pandemic figures.

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In July, Aichi prefectural police referred a man to prosecutors for abandoning a suitcase at Chubu Centrair International Airport after transferring his belongings to another bag. Police said empty suitcases left unattended require full security checks to rule out explosives, often involving several officers.

Professor Daisuke Abe of Ryukoku University said tourists may be discarding luggage in Japan because suitcases are relatively inexpensive. “Public and private sectors need to discuss this so we can build a system that allows tourists to dispose of suitcases properly and provide sufficient information to them,” Abe said.