is a railway station in the city of

Aomori , officially Aomori City (, ), is the capital Cities of Japan, city of Aomori Prefecture, in the Tōhoku region of Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 264,945 in 136,781 households, and a population density of 321 people per squa ...

Aomori Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan in the Tōhoku region. The prefecture's capital, largest city, and namesake is the city of Aomori (city), Aomori. Aomori is the northernmost prefecture on Japan's main island, Honshu, and is border ...

, Japan. The station has been operating since September 1891, though the most recent station building, which consists of three island platforms connected to the station building by a footbridge, was completed in March 2021. Since 1987 the station has been used by the

East Japan Railway Company The is a major passenger railway company in Japan and the largest of the seven Japan Railways Group companies. The company name is officially abbreviated as JR-EAST or JR East in English, and as in Japanese. The company's headquarters are in ...

(JR East) which operates various services to destinations throughout the

Tōhoku region The , Northeast region, , or consists of the northeastern portion of Honshu, the largest island of Japan. This traditional region consists of six prefectures (): Akita, Aomori, Fukushima, Iwate, Miyagi, and Yamagata. Tōhoku retains ...

. Since 2010 the station's operations have been jointly run by JR East and the Aoimori Railway Company, a third sector,

regional rail Regional rail is a public transport, public rail transport service that operates between towns and cities. These trains operate with more stops than inter-city rail, and unlike commuter rail, operate beyond the limits of urban areas, connectin ...

operator.

Location

Aomori Station is located at the western terminus of Aomori Prefecture Route 16, a road that provides access to the station from Japan National Route 4 in central

. The station is situated within the urban core of central Aomori and is in close proximity to the city hall, prefectural hall, the city library, and several landmarks and museums including the Aomori Bay Bridge, A-Factory, and Nebuta Museum Wa Rasse. Aomori Station is the northern terminus of the

Ōu Main Line The is a railway line in Japan, operated by the East Japan Railway Company (JR East). It connects Fukushima Station (Fukushima), Fukushima Station through Akita Station to Aomori Station. Since the opening of the Yamagata Shinkansen on July 1, 1 ...

and the Aoimori Railway Line and the southern terminus of the Tsugaru Line. The stations adjacent to it along those lines, respectively, are Shin-Aomori Station, Tsutsui Station, and Aburakawa Station.

Station layout

Aomori Station has three

island platform An island platform (also center platform (American English) or centre platform (British English)) is a station layout arrangement where a single platform is positioned between two tracks within a railway station, tram stop or transitway inte ...

s connected to the station building by a footbridge. The station has a "

Midori no Madoguchi , short for ''Magnetic-electronic Automatic'' ''Reservation System,'' is a train ticket reservation system used by the Japan Railways Group (JR Group) companies and travel agencies in Japan. It was developed jointly by Hitachi and the former Ja ...

" staffed ticket office, a

convenience store A convenience store, convenience shop, bakkal, bodega, corner store, corner shop, superette or mini-mart is a small retail store that stocks a range of everyday items such as convenience food, groceries, beverages, tobacco products, lotter ...

, and a View Plaza travel agency. The station's two ticket offices for JR East and the Aoimori Railway Company are attended daily from 5:20 am to 10:30 pm, while the View Plaza agency is attended from 10:00 am to 5:30 pm daily. Tickets can also be purchased at two separate automatic dispensers for JR East and the Aoimori Railway Company. A second footbridge added during the station's reconfiguration in March 2021 connects the areas to the east and west of the station, allowing pedestrians to cross over the station's platforms without purchasing a ticket.

Platforms

History

The station opened on 1 September 1891 as the northern terminus of the Ueno–Aomori line of the

Nippon Railway was the first private railway company in the history of Japan. The company built trunk lines connecting Tokyo with the Tōhoku region to the northeast. Most of its lines came under the control of Japanese Government Railways following nationaliza ...

. It became a station on the

Tōhoku Main Line The Tōhoku Main Line () is a railway line in Japan operated by the East Japan Railway Company (JR East). The line starts from Tokyo Station in Chiyoda, Tokyo and passes through such cities as Saitama, Saitama, Saitama, Utsunomiya, Tochigi, Uts ...

of the

Japanese Government Railways The Japanese Government Railways (JGR) was the national rail transport, railway system directly operated by the until 1949. It was a predecessor of Japanese National Railways and the later Japan Railways Group. Name The English name "Japanese ...

(JGR), the pre-war predecessor to the

Japan National Railway The , abbreviated JNR or , was the business entity that operated Japan's national railway network from 1949 to 1987. Network Railways As of June 1, 1949, the date of establishment of JNR, it operated of narrow gauge () railways in all 46 pre ...

s (JNR), after the

nationalization Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization contrasts with p ...

of the Nippon Railway on 1 November 1906. The station and its adjacent port facilities were destroyed during strategic bombing of Aomori in

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

on 28 July 1945. Kominato Station in

Hiranai () is a town located in Aomori Prefecture, Japan and a part of the Aomori metropolitan area. , the town had an estimated population of 9,750 in 4,736 households, and a population density of 45 persons per km2. It is the most heavily populate ...

picked up the destroyed station's role as the terminal station of the Tōhoku Main Line until the reconstruction of Aomori Station was completed on 15 July 1949. The temporary structure built after the war was replaced in 1959 with the station building that was used until March 2021. Aomori Station East Entrance 1

With the privatization of

Japanese National Railways The , abbreviated JNR or , was the business entity that operated Japan's national railway network from 1949 to 1987. Network Railways As of June 1, 1949, the date of establishment of JNR, it operated of narrow gauge () railways in all 46 pre ...

(JNR) on 1 April 1987, the station came under the control of JR East. On 4 December 2010, the

Tōhoku Shinkansen The is a Japanese high-speed Shinkansen rail line that runs through the more sparsely populated Tōhoku region of Japan's main island, Honshu. Operated by the East Japan Railway Company, it links Tokyo in the south to Aomori in the north, with ...

was successfully extended north to Shin-Aomori Station from Hachinohe. As a result of the opening of the bullet train between the two stations, that section of the Tōhoku Main Line including the line's platforms at Aomori Station was transferred to the Aoimori Railway Company from JR East on the same day. In October 2018 construction commenced on the fifth iteration of the Aomori Station building with improved access to the station's western entrance. On 27 March 2021, the fourth-generation station building was closed following the opening of the fifth-generation station building and the conclusion of celebratory festivities in the older building. Following the movement of station operations, the area occupied by the older building is slated to be replaced with commercial space operated by the city of Aomori and JR East as well as a hotel that overlooks the station platforms. The multi-use, ten-story building is set to be complete in 2024.

Services

Aomori Station is served by the

and the Tsugaru Line of JR East. It is also served by the regional Aoimori Railway Line. The

Tsugaru-Kaikyō Line The was a railway line in northern Japan that linked Aomori Station in Aomori Prefecture and Hakodate Station in Hokkaido. The Tsugaru-Kaikyō Line was actually made up of portions of four separate lines: the Tsugaru Line, operated by East Ja ...

formerly served Aomori Station as a connection to

Hakodate is a Cities of Japan, city and seaports of Japan, port located in Oshima Subprefecture, Hokkaido, Japan. It is the capital city of Oshima Subprefecture. As of January 31, 2024, the city had an estimated population of 239,813 with 138,807 househol ...

in Hokkaido via the Seikan Tunnel; however, with the opening of the

Hokkaido Shinkansen The is a Japanese high-speed Shinkansen rail line that links up with the Tōhoku Shinkansen in northern Aomori Prefecture in Honshu and continues on into the interior of Hokkaido through the undersea Seikan Tunnel. Construction started in May ...

, conventional rail passenger services between Aomori and Hakodate have since been discontinued.

Aoimori Railway services

Aomori Station is primarily served by trains operating on a local service on the Aoimori Railway Line between it and Hachinohe Station. Passenger trains serve Aomori Station just over 17 hours a day from 5:40am to 10:58pm. Except for morning and evening peak hours, trains depart roughly at 25 to 80 minute intervals.

Limited express train services

The following

limited express A limited express is a type of express train or express bus service that stops at fewer locations compared to other express services on the same or similar routes. Japan The term "limited express" is a common translation of the Japanese ...

services stop at Aomori Station: * '' Tsugaru'' (Akita - Aomori)

Former services

The following

Limited express A limited express is a type of express train or express bus service that stops at fewer locations compared to other express services on the same or similar routes. Japan The term "limited express" is a common translation of the Japanese ...

services used to stop at Aomori Station: * '' Hakuchō / Super Hakuchō'' (Shin-Aomori - Hakodate ''via'' Aomori) The following overnight sleeping car services also used to operate to and from Aomori Station. * '' Akebono'' (Ueno - Aomori) * '' Nihonkai'' ( - Aomori)

Bus services

Buses serving the station are operated by the following operators. * Aomori City Bus * Kōnan Bus Company * JR Bus Tōhoku * Towada Kankō Electric Railway *

Highway buses

* ''Asunaro''; For Namioka, Kuroishi, Kosaka, and

Morioka Station Morioka Station (, ) is a major railway station in Morioka, Iwate, Morioka, Iwate Prefecture, Japan. It is operated by JR East. Lines Morioka Station is a major junction station, and is where the Akita Shinkansen splits off from the Tōhoku Shi ...

* ''Blue City''; For Sendai Station * ''Sky''; For

Ueno Station is a major railway station in Tokyo's Taitō ward. It is the station used to reach the Ueno district and Ueno Park—which contains Tokyo National Museum, The National Museum of Western Art, Ueno Zoo, Tokyo University of the Arts and other ...

* ''Panda''; For Ueno Station * ''Enburi''; For

Shinjuku Station is a major railway station in Tokyo, Japan, that serves as the main connecting hub for rail traffic between central/eastern Tokyo (the Special wards of Tokyo, special wards) and Western Tokyo on the inter-city rail, commuter rail, and rapid tr ...

and

Tokyo Station Tōkyō Station (, ) is a major railway station in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. The original station is located in Chiyoda's Marunouchi business district near the Tokyo Imperial Palace, Imperial Palace grounds. The newer Eastern extension is not far ...

* ''Tsugaru''; For Shinjuku Station and Tokyo Station * ''Dream Aomori–Tokyo''; For Tokyo Station and

Tokyo Disneyland is a theme park at the Tokyo Disney Resort in Urayasu, Chiba Prefecture, Japan, near Tokyo. Its main gate is directly adjacent to both Maihama Station and Tokyo Disneyland Station. It was the first Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, Disney park t ...

Passenger statistics

In fiscal 2016, the JR East portion of the station was used by an average of 5,342 passengers daily (boarding passengers only).

In popular culture

Aomori Station is the setting for the 1977 ''

enka is a Japanese music genre considered to resemble traditional Japanese music stylistically. Modern ''enka'', however, is a relatively recent musical form which adopts a more traditional musical style in its vocalism than ''ryūkōka'' music, pop ...

'' song by Sayuri Ishikawa " Tsugaru Kaikyō Fuyugeshiki". The song is about a young woman who has left a lover behind in Tokyo and is thinking back on them as she disembarks from a train at the station and prepares to board a ferry boat to Hokkaido.

References

External links

JR East station information

Aoimori Railway station information
{{Portal bar, Trains, Japan

Aomori Station is a railway station in the city of Aomori in Aomori Prefecture, Japan. The station has been operating since September 1891, though the most recent station building, which consists of three island platforms connected to the station building by a ...

Ōu Main Line Tōhoku Main Line Tsugaru-Kaikyō Line Transport in Aomori (city) Railway stations in Japan opened in 1891