JR Akihabara Station concourse. Photo: Yuuki (Sep 2025)
Part of: What to Book Before Your Tokyo Trip (2026)
Browse more: Trip Planning & Logistics
Disclosure: this page contains affiliate links. If you book through them I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. Last checked 30 July 2026; Big Echo storage partner and ecbo cloak's standard rate re-checked 3 November 2026.
Two options: coin lockers inside the stations, or shops that hold your bag and can be booked ahead through an app. Lockers are cheaper and need no planning, but the large sizes fill up on weekends and event days. I run anime tours here most weeks and get asked this before nearly every one.
Bookable shop storage costs a little more and closes at night, but it takes suitcases the lockers cannot, and you know in advance that a space exists. "Where do I put my suitcase?" is the single most common question I get before a tour, so here is every option I know of, with what I could and could not verify.
Book in advance if you are arriving on a weekend, during a big event, or with a large suitcase. Use a coin locker if you are travelling light on a weekday morning, when the odds favour you. Large and extra-large lockers are the scarcest size at every station here, and they are exactly what a 28-inch suitcase needs.
Guests on my Akihabara anime tour often stash bags before we start, so ask me which station locker is nearest the meeting point when you book.
Book through ecbo cloak or Bounce, the two apps most shops here use — you reserve a space, walk in, and show a QR code. Nearby options include Yamato Transport's Akihabara counter, the Big Echo karaoke branch near the Electric Town exit, and Akiba Info inside UDX. Reserving guarantees a space; coin lockers do not.
These are shops that hold your bag behind the counter. Storage sits alongside the eSIM and the travel insurance in Yuuki's Japan Kit, the short list of things I tell guests to sort before they arrive.
ecbo cloak is a Japanese service several shops here use. You book a space at a specific shop, and prices are set per shop rather than nationally, so check the price on the shop's page before you confirm. The ¥300 bag / ¥600 suitcase figure quoted in older write-ups (including an earlier version of this page, for Big Echo) is 2018 launch-era pricing — ecbo's own rollout into Seven-Eleven stores nationwide, announced December 2025 and still the quoted rate as of a July 2026 follow-up report, prices storage at ¥500/day for a bag and ¥800/day for a suitcase, so treat ¥300/¥600 as outdated rather than a current floor. One correction: Big Echo's own site switched its Akihabara branches to Bounce rather than ecbo cloak (confirmed on big-echo.jp's own Bounce store list, rollout completed March 2026) — the old ¥300/¥600 figure once quoted for Big Echo is not current there either.
Shops in the immediate area include the following. I checked each one on Google Maps when this page was last updated.
Yamato Transport, Akihabara Ekimae branch (1-15-8 Sotokanda) — about 1 minute from the station, open 9:00–19:00. A courier depot, so large items are routine here, and the same counter can forward a suitcase to your next hotel or to the airport.
Big Echo Akihabara Denkigai-guchi (1-18-19 Sotokanda, inside BiTO AKIBA) — a karaoke branch a few steps from the Electric Town exit. Big Echo's own site now books this branch's storage through Bounce, at around ¥850 a day, not through ecbo cloak — look for it under the Bounce listing below. There is a second Big Echo at the Showa-dori exit if this one is full.
Akiba Info, Akihabara UDX 2F (4-14-1 Sotokanda) — the tourist information centre, open 11:00–17:30, closed Mondays. Capacity is small: 5 bags and 5 suitcases. Staff speak English, which makes this the easiest option if anything goes wrong.
One listing to ignore: Sofmap AKIBA No.5, the used-digital buy-back centre at 1-16-9 Sotokanda, still appears on storage round-ups. Google Maps marks it permanently closed, and another used-electronics shop now occupies that unit, so do not plan around it.
Check availability on ecbo cloak →
Bounce is the international app most visitors already have. In Akihabara it lists a dedicated storage point advertising capacity for around 100 items a day and 24-hour opening, plus a hotel front desk (Hotel Anshin Oyado, Akihabara Electric Town) taking up to about 50 items a day, also listed as 24 hours.
One thing worth knowing: Bounce and ecbo cloak list several of the same shops. If a shop shows as full on one app, it is worth checking the other, but do not assume they are two separate spaces at the same address.
Bounce advertises rates from around ¥275 per day, but the price shown at individual Akihabara shops ranges up to roughly ¥850, so treat the headline number as a starting point.
Radical Storage now lists several pickup points near the station rather than the single Sotokanda address I noted before — the listing's exact street address only appears after you book, and rates run from about ¥270 to ¥950 a day depending on which one you pick. It is booking-only — you cannot walk in and pay cash. Several of these points already carry dozens of reviews, so unlike when I last checked, availability does not look like a problem; just confirm the address and hours on your confirmation before you go.
Photos: Yuuki (Anime Sensei)
Four separate stations share the name "Akihabara" — JR, Tokyo Metro Hibiya line, Tsukuba Express, and the Toei Shinjuku line at nearby Iwamotocho — and each runs its own lockers. JR has the most, including a 24-hour bank near the Showa-dori exit. Reported prices run about ¥400 for a small locker to ¥800 for extra-large — directory figures, not JR's own — cash or IC card.
Four different railway stations sit under the name "Akihabara", and each has its own lockers.
JR Akihabara Station has the most. Inside the gates there are banks on the first floor between the Electric Town and Central gates, and two more on the second floor — the north side takes both IC cards and cash and includes extra-large units, while the south side is cash only. Outside the gates, the bank near the Showa-dori exit is open 24 hours and is cash only. Reported prices run from about ¥400 for a small locker to ¥800 for extra-large, but these come from locker directories rather than JR's own page, which I could not open when writing this. Read the price off the machine before you commit.
Tokyo Metro Hibiya line lockers are split across three areas near exits 3 and 5, at roughly ¥400 / ¥500 / ¥700 for small, medium and large, taking cash and IC cards. Those figures come from a survey published in late 2022, so treat them as approximate.
Tsukuba Express has two banks on the basement level near the gates, in the same ¥400–¥700 range.
Toei Shinjuku line, Iwamotocho Station is about a ten-minute walk south and is the one I suggest when everything nearer the station is full — tourists rarely walk this far. Tokyo's transport bureau lists two locker areas on the basement concourse: one near exit A6 with 4 large, 4 medium and 5 standard units, and one near exit A4 with 3 medium and 10 standard. They take PASMO, and run from first to last train. The station page does not publish prices.
Reservable lockers. JR East runs an app-reservable locker system (Multiecube / To-Locca) with units at Akihabara, both inside the gates on the second floor and outside in the east–west passage. I could not confirm current pricing, but if you want the certainty of a reservation and the low price of a locker, this is the combination to look at.
Think in terms of what you're carrying rather than a number: small fits a daypack or a bag of hand luggage, medium takes a cabin-size carry-on, and large or extra-large is the size a 28-inch suitcase actually needs. Stations across Japan size their lockers the same way, so this is worth knowing before any trip here, not just this one.
The mistake I see most is guessing too small. Someone grabs the first open small locker for a daypack early in the day, then comes back later with a full suitcase and finds every large unit already taken — large and extra-large are the sizes that run out first, as above. If you're carrying a 28-inch case, go straight for the large or extra-large bank and don't waste time checking the small ones. Reported prices at the banks here run from about ¥400 for a small locker up to ¥800 for extra-large, but as always, read the actual price off the machine before you commit.
Yodobashi Camera Multimedia Akiba does not offer a left-luggage service. I checked their official service list: it covers phone repair, shoe repair, key cutting, ATMs and currency exchange, but no bag storage. A lot of visitors walk there assuming a store that big must hold bags. It does not.
For a light bag on a weekday, a station coin locker is cheapest and needs no planning. For a suitcase, a weekend, or an event day, book ecbo cloak or Bounce so a space is guaranteed. If every locker near the station is full, walk to Iwamotocho. Yodobashi Camera is not an option at all.
| Option | Roughly | Hours | Book ahead? | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| JR station lockers | ¥400–¥800 / day | Varies; Showa-dori exit bank is 24h | No | Small bags, weekday arrivals |
| Iwamotocho lockers | Not published | First to last train | No | When everything near the station is full |
| ecbo cloak shops | ~¥500–¥800 / day | Shop hours, mostly 9:00–19:00 | Yes | Suitcases, guaranteed space |
| Bounce | From ~¥275 / day | Some listings 24h | Yes | Late arrivals and early departures |
| Reservable JR lockers | Not confirmed | Station hours | Yes | Locker price with a guarantee |
| Yodobashi Akiba | Not offered | — | — | — |
Weekends, public holidays and major event days are the risk. Large and extra-large units go first, because they are the rarest size in every bank. Nobody publishes live occupancy for Akihabara, so if your day is inflexible, book a shop instead.
Coin lockers are generally intended for same-day use and charge again once the day rolls over. Shop storage closes when the shop closes. For a genuine overnight, use your hotel's front desk — most will hold bags before check-in and after check-out.
Akiba Info on the second floor of UDX is a tourist information centre, so yes. The apps themselves are in English, which covers the rest.
YESAnd please do. Akihabara is a walking neighbourhood — pulling a suitcase over four hours of shop floors is miserable. If you tell me in advance which station you are arriving at, I will tell you which bank of lockers to try first.
Shop names, opening hours and capacities come from the operators' own listings; station locker details come from the Tokyo transport bureau's station page and from locker directory sites, because JR East's and Tokyo Metro's own pages were not reachable when I compiled this. Prices in Japan change quietly. This page was last checked on 30 July 2026, except the Big Echo storage partner and ecbo cloak's standard day rate, both re-checked 3 November 2026, and I update it when I notice something has moved.
About the author. I am Yuuki, an anime tour guide based in Akihabara. I run private anime tours in English most weeks, rated 4.96★ on Airbnb, and I have watched over 1,500 anime series — which is how most of my guests find me. I walk past most of these lockers on the way to meeting guests.
See the Akihabara anime tour →
Sources · checked 3 November 2026
About Multi-Ecube | JR East Smart Logistics Co., Ltd.JR East Smart Logistics Co., Ltd.
Iwamotocho | TOEI TRANSPORTATIONwww.kotsu.metro.tokyo.jpDhttps://digitalpr.jp/pdf.php?r=128898digitalpr.jp
荷物預かりサービス Bounce(バウンス)対応店舗カラオケ ビッグエコー
セブンイレブンで荷物預かりサービス 26県378店舗で開始Impress Watch
セブン荷物預かり1261店に拡大、沖縄初進出www.logi-today.comA private half-day with a local otaku guide, planned around your fandom. Three to four hours in English, never mixed with other travelers, rated 4.96 by 171 Airbnb guests. Booking here goes straight into my calendar.
Book the private Akihabara anime tour direct See Yuuki's Japan Kit