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: Screen

Prefecture: Shiga

Line(s): Ohmi Tetsudo-Taga Line

Average No. of Daily Passengers: 634

When I first heard of this place I imagined that it might be similar to visiting Umi-Shibaura station in Tokyo which is (almost) exclusive to Toshiba employees although other passengers can visit the station only by train without leaving the premises. However, this single platform one in Shiga Prefecture is a little different.

How I first came across this station, I really don’t know! There are no articles about it online so maybe I just found it by scrolling Google Maps and was surprised to see the name Screen (スクリーン when written in Katakana script) and thought it might even be something movie-related! Or maybe it just registered with me as a niche interest of mine is stations which have a foreign name.

The station name is basically derived from the company which it serves. Dainippon Screen Mfg. Co., Ltd a.k.a. Screen Holdings is a Japanese semiconductor equipment manufacturer and electronics company. Much of the surrounding area is occupied by the company premises so it is unlikely too many others will ever use this station.

The station is located in Hikone which is a prominent city in Shiga Prefecture with a  wonderful castle amidst beautiful surroundings. That’s located around five kilometres north of Minami-Hikone station on the Tokaido Sanyo Line which is where I accessed Screen from as trains don’t run too often.

That may be because it is one of just three stations on the 2.5 kilometre-long Ohmi Tetsudo-Taga line which serves Screen as well as Takamiya and Taga Taisha-mae either side of it. It took me about half an hour on foot in one straight direction pretty much all the way.

Screen station is the red one at the top!

Construction of this station started in December 2007 and opened just three months later which may not be too surprising given the simplicity of the relatively small building. There are no ticket gates or IC card readers so I don’t know how you pay as presumably you’ll need to exit a ticket gate if heading north to Takamiya.

There are a couple of vending machines and benches on the relatively short platform which does have a roof to shelter one from the elements. There is also some seating in the waiting room which is pristine as one can imagine that there is never much waiting around at this station unless the Screen Holdings staff just leave work without knowing what time the next train is!! Surely they time their departure from the company perfectly to coincide with the train that’ll take them home.

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   #14. Minami-Takada   #15. Mochida   #16. Minami-Takasaki   #17. Hozukyō