is a passenger

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

located in the city of

Shimonoseki file:141122 Shimonoseki City Hall Yamaguchi pref Japan01s3.jpg, 260px, Shimonoseki city hall is a Cities of Japan, city located in Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 248,193 in 128,762 households and a pop ...

Yamaguchi Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Chūgoku region of Honshu. Yamaguchi Prefecture has a population of 1,377,631 (1 February 2018) and has a geographic area of 6,112 Square kilometre, km2 (2,359 Square mile, sq mi). ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. It is operated by the

West Japan Railway Company , also referred to as , is one of the Japan Railways Group (JR Group) companies and operates in western Honshu. It has its headquarters in Kita-ku, Osaka. It is listed in the Tokyo Stock Exchange, is a constituent of the TOPIX Large70 index, ...

(JR West). The station is a freight depot of the

Japan Freight Railway Company , or , is one of the seven constituent companies of Japan Railways Group (JR Group). It provides transportation of cargo nationwide throughout Japan. Its headquarters are in Shibuya, Tokyo near Shinjuku Station. The Japan Railways Group was foun ...

(JR Freight).

Lines

Shimonoseki Station is served by the JR West

San'yō Main Line The is a major railway line owned by JR Group companies in western Japan, connecting Kōbe Station and Moji Station, largely paralleling the coast of the Seto Inland Sea, in other words, the southern coast of western Honshu. The San'yō Shi ...

and is located 528.1 kilometers from the

terminus Terminus may refer to: Ancient Rome *Terminus (god), a Roman deity who protected boundary markers Transport *Terminal train station or terminus, a railway station serving as an end destination *Bus terminus, a bus station serving as an end des ...

of the line at . It is also served by trains of the JR West

San'in Main Line The is a railway line in western Japan, which connects Kyoto and Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi, operated by West Japan Railway Company (JR West). It is the major railway line of the San'in region, approximately paralleling the Japan Sea, crossing Kyot ...

, whose trains all continue past the nominal terminus of that line at and is located 677.3 kilometers from the opposing terminus of that line at . The company boundary between JR West and JR Kyushu is at the west end of this station where there is an entrance signal from

Moji Moji may refer to: * '' Onji'' or ''hyōon moji'' (表音文字), phonic characters used in counting beats in Japanese poetry * Moji-ku, Kitakyūshū, ward (district) of the city of Kitakyūshū, Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan ** Moji Station in that wa ...

, and trains on the San'yō Main Line past this station are under the control of the

Kyushu Railway Company The , also referred to as , is one of the seven constituent companies of Japan Railways Group (JR Group). It operates intercity rail services within Kyushu, Japan. It formerly operated the Beetle (JR Kyushu), Beetle hydrofoil service across th ...

(JR Kyushu)

Station layout

The station consists of two raised

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 a mezzanine level of the station building by the stairs/escalator near the north end of each platform. 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.

Platforms

Note: Platforms 1, 2, 5 and 10 do not have physical platforms.

History

Shimonoseki Station opened on 27 May 1901 as on the

San'yō Railway The was established in 1887 and served as a major railroad company during the Meiji period in Japan. The railroad was headquartered in Kobe, and Nakamigawa Hikojirō served as head of the railroad. Rail lines The first rail line opened in 1888 ...

about 700 meters east from its current location, but adjacent to the . The station name was changed to Shimonoseki Station with the change in city name 1 June 1902. San'yō Railway ferry operations to

Korea Korea is a peninsular region in East Asia consisting of the Korean Peninsula, Jeju Island, and smaller islands. Since the end of World War II in 1945, it has been politically Division of Korea, divided at or near the 38th parallel north, 3 ...

began from 11 September 1905. The San'yō Railway was railway nationalized in 1906 and the line renamed the San'yō Main Line in 1909. On 1 July 1942, the Kanmon Tunnel was opened. The station moved to its present location on 15 November 1942. With the privatization of 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 ...

(JNR) on 1 April 1987, the station came under the aegis of the West Japan railway Company (JR West). On 29 September 1999, the Shimonoseki Station massacre occurred, with five deaths with ten injuries. On 7 January 2006, the main station building was destroyed by fire and a 74-year-old man was arrested for arson.

Passenger statistics

In fiscal 2020, the station was used by an average of 7225 passengers daily. Yamaguchi Prefecture Statistical Yearbook
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Surrounding area

JR Shimonoseki station and Buzenda area

;Shops * Sea Mall Shimonoseki (largest shopping center in West Japan when it was built) **Shimonoseki

Daimaru is a Japanese department store chain, principally located in the Kansai region of Japan. The chain is operated by Daimaru Matsuzakaya Department Stores, a subsidiary of J. Front Retailing. At one time Daimaru was an independent company, , hea ...

(department store) **Wedding Hall * Buzenda Shopping Street (the most famous downtown in Yamaguchi Prefecture) * Green Mall shopping street ( Korean Townbr>
* Nagato Market ;Sightseeing * Kaikyo Yume Tower (Kaikyo Messe Shimonoseki) * Hiyoriyama Park ;Hotels *Shimonoseki Tokyu Inn *Via Inn Shimonoseki *Shimonoseki Eki-nishi Washington Hotel Plaza *Toyoko Inn Shimonoseki-eki Higashi-guchi *Shimonoseki Station Hotel *Green Hotel Shimonoseki *Hotel Wing International Shimonoseki *Hotel 38th Shimonoseki *Prince Hotel Shimonoseki ;Others * Shimonoseki Port (Foreign Access Zone) * Shimonoseki Port International Terminal * Shimonoseki Fishing Port * Shimonoseki Citizen hall

Karato

;Shops * SunLive Karato(Shopping center) * Karato shopping street * Kamon Wharf (fresh fish shop and restaurant, etc.) ;Sightseeing * Kaikyokan (Aquarium) * Mt. Hinoyama (268.2m) * Karato Market (Fresh fish shop etc.) * Former British Consulate (built in 1906) * Former Akita Company Building (built in 1915) * Nabe-cho Post Office (built in 1900) *

Akama Shrine is a Shinto shrine in Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan. It is dedicated to the child Emperor Antoku, who died in the Battle of Dan-no-ura (aka Dannoura), which occurred nearby in 1185. This battle was important in the history of Japan ...

(built in 1191) * Kameyama Hachimangu

Shrine A shrine ( "case or chest for books or papers"; Old French: ''escrin'' "box or case") is a sacred space">-4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to talk of the beginnings of French, that is, when it wa ...: ''escri ...

(built in 859) *

Kanmon Straits The or the Straits of Shimonoseki is the stretch of water separating Honshu and Kyushu, two of Japan's four main islands. On the Honshu side of the strait is Shimonoseki (, which contributed "Kan" () to the name of the strait) and on the Kyushu ...

(

Kanmonkyo Bridge The ( Asian Highway Network ) is a suspension bridge crossing the Kanmon Straits, a stretch of water separating two of Japan's four main islands. On the Honshū side of the bridge is Shimonoseki (, which contributed ''Kan'' to the name of t ...

) * Dan-no-ura (

Battle of Dan-no-ura A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force c ...

) ;Hotels * Shimonoseki Grand Hotel * Karato Central Hotel * Kaikyo View Shimonoseki * Shunpanro * Tokyo Dai-ichi Hotel Shimonoseki * Shimonoseki City Hinoyama Youth Hostel ;Others * Shimonoseki City Hall * Arcaport development area

Transportation

Ferries from Shimonoseki Port International Terminal

*The Kanpu ferry to

Busan Busan (), officially Busan Metropolitan City, is South Korea's second list of cities in South Korea by population, most populous city after Seoul, with a population of over 3.3 million as of 2024. Formerly romanized as Pusan, it is the economi ...

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

regularly. *The Orient ferry to

Qingdao Qingdao, Mandarin: , (Qingdao Mandarin: t͡ɕʰiŋ˧˩ tɒ˥) is a prefecture-level city in the eastern Shandong Province of China. Located on China's Yellow Sea coast, Qingdao was long an important fortress. In 1897, the city was ceded to G ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

regularly. *The Orient ferry to

Shanghai Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...

regularly.

Bus

*Bus company (A loop-line bus in the city.) : Sanden Kohtsu Co., Ltd. **Shimonoseki Station Bus Terminal : Intercity bus services (arrival and departure at Shimonoseki Station Bus Terminal) go to the following destinations: Osaka, Kobe, Fukuoka, Kitakyushu Airport, etc.

References

External links

JR West Station Official Site