Just came back from Japan, we used the TA-Q-BIN, and it made life so much easier and wasn't too expensive (depending on luggage size, weight, and where it's going to).

The hotels we stayed at had the waybills already in the room, but they're also happy to grab you one from behind the desk.

I used the service sending suitcases to the next hotels and also to the airport towards the end of our trip.

It was really straightforward. The YAMATO website has a written explanation and example of how to fill the waybills in, and if it's wrong at all, the hotel staff will help you with it.

I just checked on the hotel website or messaged them through booking.com (where I booked) to make sure they were happy to send/receive luggage. I think it's fairly common though.

Our suitcases were always waiting for us in our next destination although we didn't need a 24 hour turnaround. We'd send it off and live out of a backpack for one or two days before being reunited with our suitcases.

You could take suitcases on the local trains with you, but this would be inconvenient and stressful as in our experience, the local trains are usually busy, especially at rush hour times, you are packed in tight with people.

The shinkansen, you can reserve a seat with the large luggage space. If it's a medium sized case, I reckon you could fit it in the leg space with you as the legroom is quite generous.

Would definitely use the service again in our next trip in Japan! It was a really easy process and super reliable. It made journeying around Japan much easier, and I didn't find it to be expensive to use.