Trunk Room – A Place for Those Excess Belongings

Published: February 27, 2018

Is your apartment overflowing with things which you don’t want to throw away, but have nowhere to keep? Are you going abroad for a couple of years to study, or being sent on secondment by your company and are wondering what to do with your belongings whilst you are away? The answer to both those questions could well be storing your possessions at a trunk room. Fukagawa Yuki Branch is a local franchisee of the nationwide Oshiire Sangyo trunk room group. It is part of a local warehouse and transportation company, with a history dating back to 1923.

 

 

Located in Fukagawa 1-chome, just off Kiyosumi-dori Avenue, here you can rent a container in which to store your possessions and leave them in the knowledge that they will be stored safely until you are ready to reclaim them. Neatly standing to attention on the ground floor of this large warehouse are rows of containers, in various sizes, all bearing the logo of Oshiire Sangyo.

 

 

Mr. Minoru Sato, the Manager at Fukagawa Yuki, showed me around the site. The warehouse currently houses 210 containers in five sizes, ranging from small individual containers (104cm x 74cm x 160cm) through to large-sized containers for storing family furniture (241cm x 143cm x 208cm), and all carrying the distinctive Oshiire Sangyo logo.

 

 

The robust containers are made of steel with the inside lined with anti-condensation material to reduce the possibility of dampness getting in and ruining the contents. Mr. Sato told me that he had seen oil paintings stored without suffering damage, as the temperature inside the container does not rise appreciably from season to season; however, he advised that they are not suitable for items requiring special treatment, such as professional videos which need refrigerating.

 

 

Security is an important consideration for customers and Mr. Sato showed me a couple of containers, one which had a large padlock securing the container’s doors whilst the other had a numbered nylon tag threaded through the handle of the container door.

 

 

The former was a customer’s own padlock (the customer retains the key), whilst the latter was Fukagawa Yuki’s own numbered tamper-proof security tag – you can take your pick of which to choose.

 

 

To deter thieves, all the containers are permanently stored indoors, unlike some trunk room outfits, and the warehouse’s outer shutters are securely locked outside business hours.

 

 

When it comes to filling your container, you can either do it at home, and the container will be transported to the trunk room for you, or you can bring your belongings to Fukagawa Yuki and load the container on site. Rental contracts are on a monthly basis, and there is no maximum contract period; in fact, Mr. Sato told me that he is aware of one contract that has been running for 25 years. And if you want to add to the contents of your container, or take something out, this is no problem. Just come along to the trunk room and ask to access your container.

 

 

Fukagawa Yuki’s customer base is split evenly between individuals and corporates, with individuals renting containers so they can store surplus belongings for long periods, temporarily house the contents of a property whilst it is being rebuilt, or safely deposit possessions whilst the person goes abroad for a period. And this includes foreign customers, perhaps intending to return to Japan one day.

 

So, if one of the above applies to you, why not consider renting one of Fukagawa Yuki’s containers?

 

 

 

Story and Photos by Jeremy Hutchinson