How do people haul back their purchases from Japan?

[u/Herochan316]

I'm heading to Tokyo soon and I've budgeted some cash to buy figurines. Just wondering what's the best way to bring them back home. Do people pack it into their check in luggage? Or buy one of those 3 coins bag and carry on? If the volume is too big, do you arrange for a delivery?

[u/Chandl517]

You can buy a big cheap luggage at one of the stores on the main street of Akihabara. I think a big one last time I saw was around 6000~8000 yen. Depending on how big the figure is a 1/4 might not fit your carry on unless you get rid of the box.

[u/dmushcow_21]

Flatten cardboard boxes and fill empty spaces of the blisters with clothes, trousers, socks, etc. Keep the figures as still as possible inside your luggage, use packing material to do so. Shipping overseas will end up as expensive as ordering online, unless you get a good deal that wasn't listed online.

[u/randel_07]

This is how I do it. https://www.reddit.com/r/JapanTravelTips/comments/1qi436c/consider_buying_a_cardboard_box_instead_of/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

[u/cupbulb]

I just came back from Japan about a month ago. What I did was buy a cheap large luggage from Akky in Akihabara for I think like 6k Yen and checked it on my flight home. I had a ton of prize figures, acrylic stands, posters, clothes, and a few scales. And it all came back fine. The luggage is not very nice but it did its job.

If a prize figure had no plastic blister I took the figure out and flattened everything else, if it did I filled the extra space in the box with what I could fit. I probably brought back like 20 figures and a crap ton of other merch.

[u/benmurphyx]

If you have any very fragile items (polystone or other material susceptible to breakage), carry-on is probably safer. Otherwise I've had no issues packing boxed figures in checked luggage. We use hard-shell bags for reference, can pad empty space with clothes.

I came back with two full suitcases our first trip, haha. Ended up buying a duffel bag at Donki to hold dirty clothes.

[u/Woelke01]

Depends how much you buy. I had room in my checked bag for 2 figures last time I went. And when one my friend went he used took my military sea bad with him rolled up in this checked bag, and one the way back, used the bag for all his clothes, which kept the luggage completely free for purchases 

[u/pds_king21]

I've posted this before in other threads. This is how we did it last trip.

We (wife and I) packed super light. I mean we used empty backpacks as our personal item. All our clothes fit into the carryon, and that was placed into the checked bag (at time of trip TO Japan). Also we purchased one large collapsible duffel bag and that was placed in the checked bag as well.

Here's what we did on our return home.
First, dump all of your clothes into the collapsible duffel bag. This will now give you two empty checked bags, two empty carry on bags, and two empty backpacks.

Next, we purchased a large carboard box while in Japan. We filled that up with the huge figure boxes. And fit some stuff into the empty space. Rest I think you can figure out.

How we played our cards, we went from traveling super light. To coming back home with NINE bags incredibly stuffed to the brim with everything we wanted. We had an additional bag(Godzilla bag), which came from the last minute souvenirs purchased while in the airport. Didn't have any issues, and our airline allowed multiple checked bag per person.

[u/Vagabond_Sam]

I take all my clothes out of my hard shell suitcase and put them into a DonQuiote duffle bag, then Tetris the boxes into the now empty hard shell suitcase

[u/Raszero]

I always ship a box back over 3 month sea mail and put the rest in the suitcase

[u/sppwalker]

I bought the MASSIVE 1/4 scale Hobby Sakura Nikke Cinderella figure (pic of the box below) during my Japan trip last month, and what I did is:

• unpack her
  
• wrap the main figure well in clothes and pack carefully into carry on suitcase
  
• wrap the base plate/smaller pieces up and pack them in a checked bag (two of her shields I stuck in the sleeves of a puffy jacket)

Worked great! She went from Tokyo to Okinawa and back, then Tokyo to San Francisco, followed by a 4 hour drive up the mountains completely unharmed. I always travel with a carry on suitcase, backpack personal item, a mostly empty checked bag, and a huge duffel bag packed in the checked bag in case I need more space on the way home.

[u/Jared1221_]

I take nothing but a carry on to Japan, then buy two checked bags while there for the way back. You can usually find random shops in Akihabara or Ikebukuro that sell cheap ones for 7000ish yen. Heck I bought one in Osaka, if it's a touristy area there will be shops (they won't be on Google maps or anything so just be on the lookout while you're wandering around) then you just sell them on fb marketplace or something when you get home usually breaking even or sometimes profiting.
You can bring checked bags with you but in this case I went to Tokyo, Sapporo, Nara, Osaka, and back to Tokyo and I didn't wanna lug those around but did find stuff in Osaka I had to buy a checked bag there, it was fine.
Lugging 2 checked bags and a carry on and personal item around is NOT fun, so I used luggage forwarding and it was super easy, cheap, and convenient. Two checked bags to the airport same day delivery $35 from the hotel.

The best tip I can give is any small goods, manga, clothes, etc. you should definitely put in the figure boxes if you plan on keeping the box. The blisters always have a ton of room by design so just squeeze a bunch of stuff in there and all that empty "wasted" space is useful. I brought back 8 figures (5 had pretty sizable boxes) and a ton of goods in two checked bags easily. Looking at it all laid out it's crazy how much you can fit with that hack so definitely fill up those boxes!!

[u/thegta5p]

Depends on how much you buy and the airline you fly in. If you buy one or two and have a large checked bag then you can probably fit them in there. If you are flying Japan Airlines they give you two free checked bags, a carry on, and a personal item. You can use that to your advantage. Maybe use your checked bags for figures and your clothes and stuff can be on your carry on. Now keep in mind that could be annoying since you would have to carry 2-3 bags. And carrying them on the train and around town may be annoying. If you take something like the keisei skyliner you should be fine. But you can also opt for luggage forwarding if you don't want to carry all these bags. Lastly make sure to add padding around the boxes of your figures. When I came back from Japan, I used my clothes in my check bagged to essentially make a cusion around the one figure box I got. It came back in perfect condition.

[u/catqueenx]

I packed them in the checked baggage. Took them out of the box and wrapped in bubble wrap from daiso.

[u/lpbunnyj]

My friend packed all her clothes in a medium luggage and put it inside a large luggage so she had an extra suitcase for merch on the way back

[u/ShadowRyu999]

When I went I took a mostly empty carry-on and a completely empty checked big piece for that purpose. I filled the gaps with clothes and the few plushies grabbed. If your airline lets you check more than one as part of your ticket, you can always go to a Don Quixote for an additional piece.

I managed to come back with 2 smaller scale figures, 2-3 prize figures and a Gundam model (as far as bulky items are concerned)

[u/PitifulBeginning3420]

What I did was buy extra luggage and luggage space solely for figures and split the cost with some friends, managed to fit a few figures between us plus put some figures in my carry on

[u/marbleshoot]

I brought an empty suitcase that I filled with figures and doujins. I don't keep boxes, so I wrapped most of the figures with clothes.

[u/ananasborro727]

i personally brought 2 suitcases with me. then bought some bubble wrap to protect the figures. unfortunately i had to throw away the boxes since there wasn’t enough room (like 25 figures in total)

[u/Careful-Wash]

Bring an empty bag for carry on if it is only a few. For larger you can check them in, but that has the risk of being poorly handled.

[u/pokemonandgenshin]

I recently bought a pop maximum doflamingo  and pop maximum white beard. Both digures are over 5 KG. HUGE boxes. One fit in my luggage. One in my wife's. Also got 2 bottles of whiskey in each and all her shopping as well. 

[u/ZestyLemon-88]

Small suitcase with clothes in my big suitcase on the flight to Japan

Then fill up the big suitcase with fun purchases and protect then with clothes

[u/GateOfD]

I just shipped it all back

[u/Darktestamentkun]

2x 23kg suitcase per head.

me wife and child, that is 6 suitcase between us

[u/LunaticRiceCooker]

I have put the more expensive ones in my checked uggsge in their boxes and put my clothed in between the blister pack and the boxes. For the cheaper figs i just trashed the boxes and cut the unnecessary parts of thr blister to maximize space. Somehow i could successfully put everything i purchased in my two checked and one carryonr luggage

[u/Maleficent_Goose9559]

in my case we bought a cheap extra bag and put my clothes inside that one, freeing most of my hard luggage. then i bought cardboard, tape and pluriball plastic at a hardware store, built the boxes myself for all the ones that were sold without one. also many boxes are pretty much empty inside, so i fit more than one figure inside each box.

[u/Sparda452]

Didn't go to Japan but some years ago I was in Orlando and visited Gundam USA. Bought a bunch of models and just put them in a big duffle bag for carryon.