Asakusa and Ueno Luggage Storage: The Tourist Centre Closed Its Service (2026)

One correction first, because almost every English guide still gets it wrong: the Asakusa Culture Tourist Information Center stopped storing luggage on 31 March 2026. If your plan was to leave a suitcase at the desk opposite Kaminarimon, it no longer exists.

The call

Asakusa is locker-poor. Four small station buildings serve one of Tokyo’s busiest tourist areas, and the banks are reported full by late morning at weekends and in peak season. Go straight to Tobu Asakusa Station, 2F, behind the main stairwell — the biggest bank in the area — or use a staffed counter.

Ueno is better supplied, and the reason people need it is the museums: none of them will take a suitcase. Store at the station, carry a daypack into the park.

ASAKUSA

Where the lockers are

• Tobu Asakusa Station, 2F behind the main stairwell — the largest bank in Asakusa. From outside, enter via the Central Exit, up the stairs, then turn away from the gates. Mix of old key lockers and touch-screen units, ¥300 / ¥400 / ¥500 / ¥700. Coins for the key type, coins or IC card for the automatic ones. A second, smaller bank sits between platforms 1 and 2 toward the north exit — small sizes only
• Tokyo Metro Ginza Line Asakusa — by the elevator near Exit 1. Key-type, ¥300 / ¥500 / ¥700
• Toei Asakusa Line — small banks at both the Kaminarimon and Komagatabashi gate areas. Touch-screen, multilingual, ¥300 / ¥500 / ¥700
• Tsukuba Express Asakusa — B1 near Exit A1, under the stairs. The widest price range in the area, up to ¥800–1,200 for genuinely suitcase-capable sizes, accepting coins, ¥1,000 notes and IC cards. Worth the walk if the others are full

Large lockers here measure about 355mm wide, 645mm deep and 868mm tall — the same standard spec as at Tokyo Station — a normal suitcase fits, a 30-inch case probably won’t.

Staffed counters

• Yamato Transport, Ekimise 1F (the building above Tobu Asakusa Station) — 10:00–19:00, ¥500 per item per day. The cheapest staffed option in the area, and they’ll courier a bag to your hotel
• Sagawa Express, Asakusa Kaminarimon Service Center — near Kaminarimon, 9:00–19:00, ¥800 per item per day. Also does hotel delivery

Note the distinction: the Tobu Tourist Information Center (Tobu’s own desk, near Ekimise) is a different place from the Taito City-run Culture Tourist Information Center that closed its storage service, and Tobu’s desk does offer bag storage. The two get confused constantly.

Continuing to Skytree?

Tokyo Solamachi at the base of Tokyo Skytree has its own lockers throughout the building, in five sizes: ¥300 / ¥500 / ¥600 / ¥800 / ¥1,000. If Asakusa’s lockers are full and Skytree is next on your list, that’s a genuine release valve — the two are one stop apart on the Tobu line.

The river cruise

Boats to Odaiba and Hamarikyu leave from Azumabashi pier, five minutes from Kaminarimon. The operator publishes rules for bicycles but no explicit suitcase restriction. That said, boarding involves a gangway and stairs and the decks are compact — take the bag to a locker first regardless.

UENO

Where the lockers are

• Shinobazu Exit (mezzanine) — lockers in the connecting passageway, ¥400 / ¥500 / ¥600, key and automatic. This is also the closest exit to Ameyoko and to Keisei Ueno
• Park Exit (3F) — automatic lockers just outside the gates, ¥400 / ¥500, plus more near the Panda Bridge exit toward the museums. Best large-locker odds
• Central Gate (1F) — lockers just inside and near the gates
• Iriya Exit (3F) — a few key lockers only. The thinnest of the four
• Ameyoko — a bank inside the vending-machine corner of the market concourse, plus a separate locker room about two minutes from Keisei Ueno

Around 300 lockers in total. Suitcase-capable sizes cluster at the Park Exit and Central Gate.

The museums won’t take your bag

This is the real reason to store at Ueno, and it surprises people:

• Tokyo National Museum — coin-return lockers (¥100 back) in the Heiseikan entrance hall, behind the central stairs, and on Heiseikan 2F. Sized for daypacks, not suitcases
• National Museum of Nature and Science — coin-return lockers in the Japan Gallery B1 and Global Gallery 1F, in three sizes, the largest of which can take a case — but they fill fast during special exhibitions
• Ueno Royal Museum — coin-return lockers in the vestibule, before the entrance. No cloakroom
• Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum — free coin-return lockers in the lobbies of both wings. For special exhibitions, oversized items are checked at the exhibition entrance by staff

None of the four offers a general checked-baggage cloakroom. Leave the case at the station.

Arriving on the Skyliner from Narita

Keisei Ueno is a small station with a modest locker bank, and it will not absorb a peak arrival. The walk to JR Ueno is about 300 metres — three minutes empty-handed, allow ten with a suitcase, because there are stairs and an underground arcade section. Aim for the Shinobazu or Park Exit banks, or book ahead.

Time limits

Standard across Tokyo Metro, JR East and by extension Toei, Tobu and TX: three consecutive days. After that the operator empties the locker and holds the contents for 30 days, then treats them as abandoned. The authoritative version is on the sticker on the locker itself.

FAQ

Can I still leave a bag at the Asakusa tourist centre?
No. That service ended 31 March 2026. Older guides saying otherwise are out of date.

Cheapest way to leave a suitcase in Asakusa?
Yamato at Ekimise 1F, ¥500 a day, if you’re there between 10:00 and 19:00.

When do Asakusa’s lockers fill?
No operator publishes data. The reported pattern is mid-to-late morning at weekends, and much earlier during cherry blossom season, the summer festivals and New Year.

Museum-hopping in Ueno with a suitcase — what’s the plan?
Store at the Park Exit, walk in through the Panda Bridge exit, use the museums’ own ¥100-return lockers for your daypack.

The bottom line

Asakusa: Tobu 2F first, Tsukuba Express B1 if that’s full, Yamato at Ekimise if you want certainty for ¥500. Ueno: Park Exit for large, Shinobazu for Ameyoko, and don’t expect the museums to help.

See also: the full Tokyo guide, Tokyo Station, getting in from the airports.

Prices and hours as of September 2026. The Asakusa Culture Tourist Information Center’s luggage service ended 31 March 2026 per Taito City’s own notice. Corrections via the contact page. Some links here are paid affiliate links.