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: Minami-Takada

Prefecture: Niigata

Line(s): Myoko Haneuma Line

Average No. of Daily Passengers: 835

There were some very interesting unstaffed stations in Niigata such as the UFO-style one at Kubiki, the dystopian underground one at Tsutsuishi, or the coastal ones at Arimagawa and Omigawa. Whilst this one at Minami-Takada isn’t quite as interesting or unique as them, it’s not without its charm in terms of simplicity.

This is a popular station with students, and that may well explain the hundreds of bicyles parked up outside the basic building located directly on the platform. There is just the one platform serving a single bi-directional track not that I actually used it as I decided to exlore the area on foot and walk to the next station.

Located in the city of Jōetsu, this station opened in December 1961 on the Shin-Etsu Main Line before coming under the control of JR East after the privatization of JNR in 1987. Nearly 30 years later Minami-Takada station was reassigned to a third-sector railway operating company as a newly opened section of the Hokuriku Shinkansen was running roughly parellel to it, and presumably JR didn’t feel the need to have two lines in such close proximity….or something like that!

In terms of things to do around the station, the highlight is probably Takada Castle which  is a short walk eastwards. Despite being underwhelmed so often by castles in Japan I can rarely ever ignore one if it’s in the place I’m in. This castle was originally built in 1614 and remained in use till the end of the 19th century. It was pleasant enough and the setting within a big park was nice.

A more interesting sight for me was one stop north at Takada station itself which is a rather eccentric design supposedly based on the aforementioned castle. It originally opened way back in August 1886 and was built by Tokugawa Ieyasu’s sixth son, Matsudaira Tadateru.

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   #12. Kamakurakōkōmae   #13. Daishimae