Inbound tourists abandoning luggage amid Osaka Expo trips causes disposal problems

The Mainichi

14-06-2025

OSAKA -- Suitcases believed to have been abandoned mainly by foreign travelers are piling up across this city as it hosts Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai, putting pressure on local accommodation providers as to how to respond.
Hotels and other lodgings are facing unexpectedly large hurdles in getting guests to properly dispose of their oversized garbage, with little progress thus far.
A 46-year-old man who operates a private lodging in the city was beyond outraged. "What am I supposed to do?" he complained in exasperation.
On April 21, a week after the Expo began, two men from China stayed at his facility for five nights. On the first day, they each brought two suitcases. Possibly due to heavy souvenir shopping during their visit, the number of suitcases increased with each passing day, reaching a total of nine by the end of their stay. Just after the two left with their large haul, the operator looked outside and saw them attempting to abandon three of the suitcases in the nearby bicycle parking area.
Lodging operators fed up with time-consuming tasks
In the city of Osaka, items over 30 centimeters wide are considered oversized waste, and cannot be discarded as household garbage. The lodging operator rushed over and warned the two guests, "Leaving these here constitutes illegal dumping, which is a crime. Please dispose of them yourselves." The tourists defiantly responded, "Then what are we supposed to do?"
After a prolonged back-and-forth, the operator contacted acquaintances for advice, and referred the tourists to a recycling service. The two then carried away their suitcases. The operator expressed his frustration, saying, "If this kind of thing keeps happening, it's going to cause a lot of extra work. But since it comes down to individual's manners, I can't come up with a good solution."
According to estimates from the Osaka Convention & Tourism Bureau, the number of inbound tourists visiting the city reached a record high of approximately 1.547 million in April 2025. The Osaka Prefectural Government predicts about 3.5 million of the 28.2 million expected Expo visitors through October to be from abroad.
Partly due to the boost from Expo 2025, tourism demand has rapidly recovered from the COVID-19 pandemic. Areas popular with backpackers from abroad, such as Osaka's Nishinari Ward and the Minami entertainment district, have seen a concentration of private lodgings and budget accommodations. This is likely why abandoned suitcases continue to appear frequently on nearby streets.
While working on this story, this Mainichi Shimbun reporter saw multiple large suitcases left on the roadside. They were often placed together with household garbage at their collection areas, suggesting that people may not have even known these items qualify as oversized waste.
Unwanted suitcases left behind
An accommodation industry insider remarked, "Many tourists from overseas intentionally bring old baggage with the plan of replacing it, and discard unnecessary bags after buying new ones in Japan."
Similar cases occurred before the coronavirus pandemic, when the "bakugai" (explosive purchasing) phenomenon by Chinese tourists gained attention. Yasuhiro Asada, president of Hotel Toyo in Nishinari Ward, noted, "Compared to those days, we've seen fewer cases recently, but even now we find suitcases abandoned in rooms or corridors about once a month."
Since some of the luggage could simply be lost items, Hotel Toyo stores them for three months. If no one claims them, the hotel has to dispose of them. Asada noted, "When (suitcases are) left behind, it is difficult to secure storage space and transport them, not to mention the cost. I urge them to properly consult us first."
Around a decade ago, Hotel Toyo began offering guests a suitcase disposal service, charging 500 yen (about $3.50) per item. Once enough suitcases accumulate, hotel staff deliver them to a disposal company.
The city of Osaka spends public resources to dispose of suitcases left on the street. In fiscal 2023, this amounted to some 110 million yen (around $765,000).
One city official voiced frustration, saying, "It is difficult to determine whether something was lost or illegally dumped, and because of the possibility of hazardous materials, cooperation from the police and other authorities is required. Disposal is extremely time-consuming."
Properly discarding suitcases as oversized garbage requires individuals to follow official procedures, but for inbound tourists, some circumstances mean doing this is not realistically possible.
Bulky garbage pickup intended for residents
According to the Environment Bureau of the Osaka Municipal Government, residents can apply in advance and pay a fee of 200 yen (approx. $1.40) per suitcase to have it collected as oversized waste. Yet, the application requires an Osaka residential address, meaning tourists from elsewhere cannot utilize this service.
Regarding the system being designed for residents, a municipal official admitted, "The only way is to find a collection agency on their own, but it is unlikely to get picked up on the same day. We didn't expect people to be disposing of their suitcases during a trip in the first place."
At Kansai International Airport, which sees some 19 million foreign visitors a year, a service to collect reusable suitcases started in 2018 for free. A source close to the municipal government noted, "Encouraging the use of private services like this would be the next best thing."
In response to both the Expo and the surge in inbound tourism, Japan faces the task of improving tourist etiquette and overtourism measures in bustling cities.