Anyone who has ever read any of the Unstaffed Stations posts will know that I love a station that is located next to water, particularly the ocean. There’s something anime-like about such a thing and so when I was in Niigata Prefecture on a short trip in September 2022 I went to check out a couple of these places.

The first of this two-part series focused on Arimagawa station but 42 kilometres east of that is this more modern-looking building. The reason for it being built though only came about due to a natural disaster in the area.

This station building was completed in March 2008 after the previous one (originally opened in 1899) and the line itself were damaged and blocked by a landslide caused by the Chūetsu offshore earthquake about eight months earlier.

When viewed from outside the station, it is a very cool-looking building but from the other side of the platform it is not so easy to appreciate the beauty of the design. The black map on the right side of the white exterior is of Niigata Prefecture.

This station is supposedly the one which is closest to the sea in all of Japan although Shimonada in Ehime Prefecture must be similarly close.

Not surprisingly there is a refreshing sea breeze

Omigawa station is also known in some circles for being the location in the closing moments of the final episode of the Japanese drama ‘Kôkô kyôshi‘ (1993) a.k.a. ‘High School Teacher‘.

The station is unstaffed and consists of two opposed side platforms connected by this footbridge.

There is only about one train per hour to and from Omigawa but that’s ok as there are some great views with the most popular one being at sunset. There is also a very short walk up the hill behind the station which offers a great view of the station itself in the foreground of the Sea of Japan. The Hokuriku Expressway (Toll Road) looms large via a giant elevated red bridge on that same side. The next post on Tokyo Fox will explore the area around the station a bit more.

It had already been a fairly epic day of station-based travel but it wasn’t quite the end of my train adventures as there was one more place to visit just a couple more stops along the Shin-Etsu Line.

Click here to read ‘Stations By The Sea In Niigata (1/2)’

Click here to read ‘Nō Way Did This Happen! A Chance Encounter Amidst Some Station Hopping In A Forgotten Corner Of Niigata’

Click here to read ‘Unstaffed Stations Of Japan #11 – Kubiki’

Click here to read ‘Going Underground To Explore One Of Japan’s Most Dystopian Stations’