Consider prepare stations in Japan and the mighty Shinjuku station is certain to come back to thoughts for many individuals. That’s the world’s busiest prepare station, and Japan monopolises the highest 50 checklist with solely 5 of them not on this nation. Nonetheless, on the different finish of the dimensions are some tiny stations that are often unstaffed and utilized by only a few commuters.
Station: Endō
Prefecture: Nagano
Line(s): Kamikōchi Line
Common No. of Every day Passengers: 27
This could be the least used station on this collection to this point, and it’s simple to see why.
There’s just about nothing within the station neighborhood by way of human exercise for so far as the attention can see however who wants that when the views of the luxurious, inexperienced mountains close by are so fantastic.
While in Matsumoto for a day earlier this summer season I made a decision to take a little bit detour to see this tiny rural station which has been in my Need To Go checklist on Google Maps for a couple of years not that I’ve any reminiscence of after I first got here throughout it! I used to be the one one to disembark at Endō which is a few dozen kilometers from Matsumoto station. Sadly, for lovers of puns, it’s not on the endō the road although!
This most straightforward of stations initially opened in September 1922, and has one ground-level aspect platform serving a solitary bi-directional monitor. New signage changed the outdated ones a couple of years in the past to commemorate the one hundredth anniversary of the inspiration of Alpico Kōtsū; the personal railway firm that operates the Kamikōchi Line.
A mascot character for the Kamikochi Line (generally known as Nagisa Endo) appears to function fairly closely on the principle indicators for a number of the stations alongside this line not that I had any concept about any of that beforehand. One other pop cultural reference for Endō is that it was Uesugi Riko’s prepare station in ‘Love Technology‘ (1997); a Japanese TV collection drama which was vastly in style at the moment.
In my expertise, even probably the most fundamental of stations have a bathroom and a merchandising machine however this one has no such amenities past a easy wood sheltered hut.
What’s fairly attention-grabbing although is that there’s an apple orchard reverse the ready space on the platform. It was planted similtaneously when the anime-style signal was first put in, and it took 5 years for the timber to bear fruit! I need to’ve walked by means of it to get one of many photographs seen on this submit however was type of obvlivious to it till researching the place on my return. Keep in mind of us that it’s all the time higher to do your analysis forward of any journey!
Click on on the next hyperlinks for earlier ‘Unstaffed Stations of Japan’ posts…
1. Kamiyagi #2. Funamachi #3. Inazusa #4. Yodo #5. Nebukawa #6. Miyamae #7. Arao #8. Higashi-Abiko #9. Nukazawa #10. Shin Shibaura #11. Kubiki #12. Kamakurakōkōmae #13. Daishimae #14. Minami-Takada #15. Mochida #16. Minami-Takasaki #17. Display #18. Takio #19. Igaya #20. Sue #21. Yotsutsuji
