The first ever platform 0 I came across was in Chiba Prefecture when I was on my way back from a semi-naked mens mud festival (hadaka matsuri) in early 2011. The seed was sewn for what eventually became a much bigger passion of mine nearly a decade later but annoyingly for me I only took one fairly poor vertical-style photo of a sign back then.

There are just two stations in Chiba with a platform zero and the other one was rather frustratingly at a station I had changed trains at before. This is actually the case for many of the platform zero stations which I visited long before my interest in such phenomena grew. When I went to Chōshi in January this year I thought I should combine it with a couple of extra stops, and first up was Sawara station in the city of Katori.

All was promising to start with as the signs on the elevator and near the main gate were  standard. The electronic information board with the orange “0” at the end was good to see but sadly that was the end of official JR-style signage.

Sawara station, which opened in 1898, is served by the Narita Line, and is located 40 kilometers from the terminus of the line at Sakura. Some trains for the Kashima Line originate at this station which is why I must have been at Sawara back in 2016 when I went to Kashima Soccer Stadium in Ibaraki to see Kashima versus Kashiwa for what was one of my favourite ever away days.

This was taken in Aril 2016

Back in the present, I walked a short distance down the platform but was met by slight disappointment as there was only a couple of simple signs. First up was a post with a yellow and black sticker on it saying that platform zero was ahead.

Next was the simplest of A4-sized zero signs on a pillar with a red arrow underneath it pointing to the end platform where some trains head for Kashima.

Once I had finished exploring the world’s longest suspended monorail system in Chiba I really just wanted to get back home but I had to dig deep into my energy reserves to muster the enthusiasm to backtrack to Yotsukaidō Station which my maiden platform zero twelve years ago.

Yotsukaidō has been open since 1894 and is served by the Sōbu Main Line between Tokyo and Chōshi. The all-important platform zero is one of three platforms at this station. It is principally used for trains heading west to Chiba and Tokyo but is occasionally used in the opposite direction.

Bonus: Just over a week before this trip to Chiba (albeit in a different year!) I made a little sidetrip to Iwakuni (Yamaguchi) whilst I was in Hiroshima for the New Year holiday. I was already close so headed a bit further away from our base in the city just for the sake of getting some new photos of it’s platform zero.

       .

There’s something slightly mystical and Harry Potter-like about these platforms and one has to wonder why some stations have them whether it be because it’s been added on that particular side of Platform 1 or just because they began their numbering from zero! I doubt if I’ll ever visit all of them but certainly hope to tick a few more off as the years go by!

• Here is the complete list of stations that have a platform zero. Let me know of any mistakes or omissions…

Morioka & Kitakami (Iwate)

Sakata (Yamagata)

Kashiwazaki, Echigoyuzawa, Shibata & Higashisanjo (Niigata)

Tatsuno, Okaya & Matsumoto (Nagano)

Anamizu (Ishikawa)

Takasaki (Gunma)

Nippori & Ayase (Tokyo)

Sawara & Yotsukaido (Chiba)

Okazaki (Aichi)

Gifu-Hashima (Gifu)

Toba (Mie)

Kyoto (Kyoto)

Himeji (Hyogo)

Gobo & Shirahama (Wakayama)

Yonago (Tottori)

Hashioka (Kagawa)

Naruto (Tokushima)

Gomen (Kochi)

Nagatoshi, Iwakuni & Ube (Yamaguchi)

Tagawagotoji & Haruda (Fukuoka)

Ishaya (Nagasaki)

Kumamoto (Kumamoto)

Click here to read ‘#WeStopAtNothing! Visiting All The Platform Zero Stations In Niigata’

Click here to read ‘#WeStopAtNothing! Platform Zeros In Japan, Z Stations In Tokyo & The Opening Of A New Yamanote Line Station’

Click here to read ‘The Complete Tour Of Katakana-Named Stations In Tokyo’