TOKYO - Dozens of suitcases lined the shelves of a police warehouse near Narita Airport, with around 200 pieces of luggage being stored after being left behind inside the airport, highlighting a growing problem that has become increasingly visible across Japan.
While many appear at first glance to be ordinary lost property, police say roughly 10% of the cases are empty, suggesting they were deliberately abandoned, and because the items must be kept for three months in case owners return, the cost of storage and disposal ultimately falls on taxpayers.
The issue is not limited to airports, as suitcases are also being found left in public places such as areas outside train stations, with some believed to have been discarded after travelers bought new luggage to handle extra shopping and souvenirs but chose not to pay disposal fees.
At Narita Airport, the number of suitcases collected has surged about ninefold over the past four years, and 879 pieces have already been recovered in the current fiscal year, putting the airport on pace to approach last year’s record-high total.
Concerned that abandoned luggage could damage the image of Japan’s gateway airport, Narita has begun testing new measures aimed at reducing the incentive to discard suitcases when bags become too full or overweight.
One initiative, launched on a limited basis in cooperation with a Tokyo apparel company, involves a machine that compresses clothing down to the size of a hand in about a minute, allowing travelers to free up space in their suitcases without buying new luggage or leaving items behind.
The device, called “Pocket Chips,” can compress up to eight T-shirts at a time, and visitors quickly began lining up to try it, including a tourist from Taiwan whose suitcase was close to exceeding his airline’s free baggage limit of 23 kilograms, prompting him to compress bulky items such as a hoodie and reorganize his load to avoid paying extra fees.
After compressing several items, he was able to bring his suitcase down to 22.9 kilograms, clearing the limit and creating enough space to repack without removing anything, while other travelers said the newly created room could also help them fit more souvenirs for the trip home.
The trial service is currently free to use, but organizers say they are considering charging 500 yen per use in the future depending on feedback, as some travelers noted that more machines may be needed to avoid long queues during busy periods.
Alongside efforts to prevent dumping, businesses at Narita are also beginning to treat old luggage as a resource rather than waste, with one suitcase retailer inside the airport offering to take back used suitcases free of charge for customers who purchase a new one, in an attempt to discourage travelers from leaving worn cases behind.
A separate suitcase repair chain with 20 locations nationwide has also launched a reuse business, saying it began collecting abandoned suitcases from partner hotels about six months ago, repairing them, and reselling them, including buying heavily damaged cases depending on condition.
With suitcase dumping increasingly seen as both an eyesore and a financial burden, officials and businesses hope that expanding awareness of such services will help reduce the number of abandoned bags and turn a growing social problem into a more sustainable system of reuse.
Source: FNN
