Think of train stations in Japan and the mighty Shinjuku station is sure to come to mind for many people. That is the world’s busiest train station, and Japan monopolises the top 50 list with only five of them not in this country. However, at the other end of the scale are some tiny stations which are usually unstaffed and used by very few commuters.

Station: Kamakurakōkōmae

Prefecture: Kanagawa

Line(s): Enoden Line

Average No. of Daily Passengers: 4,378

The pre-written paragraph at the top of all of these unstaffed station posts ends with the line “used by very few commuters” but that probably couldn’t be too far from the truth for this station in the foreground of Enoshima which is one of the busiest ones on the Enoden Line. Why it is unstaffed, I really don’t know!

Kamakurakōkōmae lies across the road from the Pacific Ocean and so it naturally offers great open views of the sea, and Mount Fuji can be seen on clear days too. It is located in the Koshigoe neighborhood of Kamakura city. The station was full of school kids when I was there and the single side platform serving bi-directional traffic was pretty full.

This station, 4.7 kilometers from the terminus of the line at Fujisawa, first opened in June 1903 under the name of Hisaka Station before being renamed to its present one 50 years later.

It was selected 25 years ago as one of the “100 Top Stations in the Kantō Region” by the Japanese Ministry of Transportation committee. I really should check out the rest of that list!

Click on the following links for previous ‘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