Narita Airport’s Newest Experiment: Saving Travelers From Suitcase Stress

With more international travelers coming in and out of Japan with each passing year, Tokyo’s Narita Airport is a hotbed for travel trouble, but with this latest experiment, the airport is taking aim at a problem many travelers know all too well: overstuffed suitcases that just won’t close. Starting with just a few days in mid-January 2026, the Narita International Airport Corporation (NAA) teamed up with Tokyo-based apparel company SJOY to test an automated clothing compression machine, designed to shrink bulky clothes down to a fraction of their original size.

^{_{Image Source: Mainichi Shimbun}}

The idea is clever in its simplicity, allowing travelers to place their clothing in a machine roughly the size of an ATM, with a small compartment 10 centimeters high, 15 centimeters wide, and 30 centimeters deep. No real preparation is required, and no careful folding is needed – once the lid is closed and a button is pressed, the device goes ahead and compresses the clothing inside the compartment into compact, regular bricks, described as “palm size.” In 1~3 minutes, the garments are squeezed down to regular, easy-to-pack shapes, which can be unfolded and returned to their original shape when unpacking.

For travelers, the benefit is obvious and immediate. A report from the Mainichi described a man in his 30s, visiting Narita with his wife after a trip to Shikoku, compressing two jackets during the machine’s test run. “I suddenly have more room in my backpack,” he explained, “so now I can fill that space by buying souvenirs at the airport before heading home.” It’s a clear example exactly the kind of last-minute relief that the airport hopes to provide, especially for people who didn’t anticipate how much shopping they’d do on their trip – especially common among international travelers visiting Japan for the first time.

Not Just for Travelers’ Convenience

Easing the struggle of getting through the airport might be a major part of the motivation for this new service test, but it’s not the only one. Narita Airport has actually been struggling with a sharp rise in abandoned suitcases in recent years, a trend linked to the surge in inbound tourism. According to NAA, the number of abandoned bags jumped from 124 cases in the 2020 fiscal year to 1,073 in 2024, which is more than an eightfold increase. Airport officials believe many travelers end up buying new, larger suitcases when their luggage overflows, leaving the old ones behind on the departures floor.

Frequent travelers may know from first-hand experience, but NAA staff say it’s common enough to see passengers wrestling with bulging suitcases that simply won’t shut. While the issue of overweight luggage is hard to combat, by at least offering an easy way to reduce clothing volume, the airport hopes to ease that stress and cut down on luggage abandonment at the same time.

The trial, held from January 13 to 15 in Narita’s Terminals 2 and 3, is part of a broader push from the NAA to introduce innovative services that keep the airport running smoothly, even in the face of increased foot traffic. Results are still being analyzed, but if the test proves successful, the airport plans to explore a paid version of the service and consider permanent installation. Travelers looking for solutions to this modern travel headache (and maybe a little extra space for one more box of Kit Kats or Tokyo Banana) will just have to keep an eye out for the machine during their next visit to Narita, and keep an ear out for what new innovations the airport is looking at next.

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