- On 19 October the association posted the provisional operators for several venue services. The English names of the services are trip-jp’s own renderings.
- Coin lockers: Alpha Locker System. The association’s tender document from March plans one block of about 260 m² outside the gate, with at least 600 lockers, 30–50% of them medium size or larger, usable from 9:00 to 22:00.
- Delivery and luggage storage: Yamato Transport. The tender plans one block of about 160 m² just inside the gate, taking domestic and international parcels, including chilled and frozen ones, and holding visitors’ bags. Planned hours are 9:30 to 21:00.
- Vending machines: Ezaki Glico, Coca-Cola Bottlers Japan and Suntory Beverage Solution.
- Fast food: IEP and Thomas, adding to the six operators named on 22 June.
- Prices, the final number of lockers and the delivery terms are not in the announcement.
Our take
The key detail is that the lockers are outside the gate. The organiser’s rules ban suitcases and wheeled cases from the venue, so visitors arriving with luggage need somewhere to leave it before security. Until now the only obvious options were station lockers and hotels; the venue entrance will be a third.
The luggage counter, by contrast, is planned inside the gate. It can only hold bags that have already passed the entry check, so a suitcase still has to go into the outdoor lockers, a station locker or a hotel.
The tender asks for at least 600 lockers. The fire and disaster plan published the same day expects up to about 67,000 people on site at peak times. That is roughly one locker per hundred visitors, so we think they will fill up on busy days. Yamato’s counter will also take chilled parcels, which should let visitors send food or plants home instead of carrying them. What can be sent has not been announced.
Tips for visitors
- If you are coming with a suitcase, decide where to leave it before you reach the venue. The gate-side lockers are planned to open at 9:00, half an hour before the venue opens at 9:30. Getting there from Haneda with luggage is covered in Haneda Airport to the Expo site.
- Station lockers along the way, such as at Seya, are a fallback if the venue lockers are full.
- Purchases can be sent home from the Yamato counter by the gate, planned to open 9:30 to 21:00. Stop there on your way out.
Our take
Suitcases are not allowed inside the Expo, so where to leave them before entry matters. Under the organiser's tender plan, the coin lockers sit outside the gate, number 600 or more and open at 9:00. Prices and the final locker count have not been published.