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’m not sure if I’ll ever visit all of them but certainly hope to tick a few more off as the years go by!

Located at the western tip of Honshu with coastlines on the Sea of Japan and Seto Inland Sea, Yamaguchi prefecture was once the king of platform zeros in Japan with five of them but sadly that number has been reduced over the years. Niigata now has the crown but Yamaguchi is joint second and my challenge was to visit all of them.

1. Ube station, Yamaguchi Prefecture

Knowing I had no choice but to ride the Shinkansen (bullet train) back to Hiroshima at night, I decided to save a bit of money on the outward journey by taking the long and slow local train route to Ube via the San-yo Line. There was a short stop along the way but overall it took about three and a half hours. It’s quite a pleasant ride crawling along the coast and I had time to spare on this occasion.

Ube publicises itself as “a city of greenery, flowers and sculptures. Whilst I certainly didn’t see any of that up close (I didn’t exit the station!) I could see some mountains and countryside in the distance as soon as I disembarked. Also clearly visible was plenty of zero-style signage!

Despite having just one side platform and two island platforms (connected by a  footbridge) there are actually six platforms at Ube as the former has a cutout thereby allowing it to serve two tracks. One of them is the Ube Line for Inō and Ube-Shinkawa which runs on platform zero itself.

My train out of Ube was departing on that line and platform by way of a 33.2 kilometre train ride north to the capital city of the prefecture.

2. Shin-Yamaguchi station, Yamaguchi Prefecture

By chance I had a transit at this station as I continued on to the fox-blessed hot spring town and then to see what turned out to be a very entertaining football match at a stadium I had never been to. Ultimately though my first ever visit to Shin-Yamaguchi station was quite disappointing as the platform zero is no longer in operation. There are some very limited signs of its existence down at the end of platform 1 where there’s a closed gate to the part of the platform which presumably served platform zero in the past.

Nowadays Platform 0 refers to the square located to the north of the station which possesses bus stops, a taxi rank, and other facilities where people gather and rest. The name comes from “the image that the station is advancing into the town” if you can imagine such marketing lines!

3. Iwakuni station, Yamaguchi Prefecture

Due to its fairly close proximity to Hiroshima (about 45 minutes) I have visited Iwakuni a few times over the years with the main reason usually being to see the awe-inspiring Kintaikyo Bridge which is the major attraction in the area. Whilst out that way in December 2022, I took a slight detour to Iwakuni station in the name of getting some new photos as my previous visits were before I got the platform zero bug!

The all-important platform 0 is a notched one on the Shimonoseki side of platform 1 that sereves the 38.3 kilometre-long Nishikagawa Seiryu Line for Nishikicho.

4. Nagatoshi station, Yamaguchi Prefecture

This station is located in the north-west of the prefecture and one that I’ve sadly not been to. If you haven’t already stopped reading this post in anger and disappointment at that news then please note that it is located on the San’in Main Line which runs (in this area of Japan) between Masuda and Shimonoseki. To my annoyance I must’ve been fairly close to this station many years ago when I was on a family trip in the region and even stayed in Nagato for a night when going between Motonosumi Inari Shrine and Hagi. It’s sure going to take some effort to ever be in that part of Japan again!

• 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)

Toba (Mie)

Gifu-Hashima (Gifu)

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’