is a railway station in

Minato, Tokyo is a Special wards of Tokyo, special ward of Tokyo, Japan. It is also called Minato City in English. Minato was formed in 1947 as a merger of Akasaka, Tokyo, Akasaka, Azabu and Shiba, Tokyo, Shiba wards following Tokyo City's Local Autonomy Ac ...

, Japan. The station is operated 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). The station is also accessible by the

Toei Asakusa Line The is a subway line in Tokyo, Japan, operated by the municipal subway operator Toei Subway. The line runs between in Ōta, Tokyo, Ōta and in Sumida, Tokyo, Sumida. The line is named after the Asakusa district, a cultural center of Tokyo, un ...

and the Keikyu Line via the nearby

Sengakuji Station is a railway station in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. It is entirely owned and operated by the Tokyo Metropolitan Bureau of Transportation, but also serves as the northern terminus of the Keikyu Main Line operated by the private railway operator Keiky ...

Lines

The station is served by the

Yamanote Line The Yamanote Line () is a railway Circle route, loop service in Tokyo, Japan, operated by the East Japan Railway Company (JR East). It is one of Tokyo's busiest and most important lines, connecting most of Tokyo's major stations and urban centres ...

, which circles around central Tokyo, and the Keihin-Tōhoku Line, which runs from Saitama through Tokyo to Yokohama. Formally, the station lies on the Tokaido Main Line. The station is within the Yamanote Line fare zone (東京山手線内), and the Tokyo Metropolitan District fare zone (東京都区内).

Station layout

The station has two island platforms, serving the two lines stopping there. Above platform level, there will be an event space overlooking the platforms, with shopping and dining facilities inside the station. The station was designed by

Kengo Kuma is a Japanese architect and emeritus professor in the Department of Architecture (Graduate School of Engineering) at the University of Tokyo. Frequently compared to contemporaries Shigeru Ban and Kazuyo Sejima, Kuma is also noted for his prolif ...

Platforms

Takanawa Gateway Station has 4 tracks and 2 island platforms. Each platform equipped 3 escalators, 1 24-person elevator and 1 18-person elevator to the paid area of the concourse on the second floor. File:Takanawa-Geteway-STA Gate.jpg, Ticket gates File:Takanawa-Geteway-STA Platform1-2.jpg, Platforms 1 and 2 File:Takanawa-Geteway-STA Platform3-4.jpg, Platforms 3 and 4

Surrounding area

of area in the Tamachi Depot will be repurposed and redeveloped, for an estimated cost of 500 billion Japanese yen. The Yamanote and Keihin-Tōhoku Line tracks were moved east by , such that office buildings, hotels, commercial buildings and high-rise skyscrapers could be built around the area, originally scheduled to open in 2024. JR East and the Urban Renaissance Agency are cooperating in this project. The project was later known as Takanawa Gateway City. The first segment of Takanawa Gateway City, The Linkpillar 1, was inaugurated on 27 March 2025. The entire complex is slated for full completion by spring 2026.

History

On 3 June 2014, JR East announced that a new station would be built between Tamachi and Shinagawa stations, at south from Tamachi Station, north from Shinagawa Station, and about southeast of Sengakuji Station. The station was built above the existing Tamachi Depot, with of the Depot's space being repurposed and redeveloped. The station was planned to open in 2020, to meet with the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics and is the newest station to be built since

Nishi-Nippori Station is a railway station in Arakawa, Tokyo, Japan, operated jointly by East Japan Railway Company (JR East) and the two Tokyo subway operators Tokyo Metro and Toei. Lines Nishi-Nippori Station is served by the following lines. * Yamanote Line * Ke ...

(opened in 1971) for the Yamanote Line, and Saitama-Shintoshin Station (opened in 2000) for the Keihin-Tōhoku Line.田町〜品川駅間に新駅を設置し、まちづくりを進めます (PDF)”. 東日本旅客鉄道
'Moving forward on urban planning by establishing a new station between Tamachi and Shinagawa stations' by East Japan Railway Company On 6 September 2016, JR East announced the outline of this station and it was positioned as the core facility of Shinagawa Development Project "Global Gateway Shinagawa".品川開発プロジェクトにおける品川新駅（仮称）の概要について (PDF)”. 東日本旅客鉄道株式会社
'On the outline of New Shinagawa Station (tentative name) in Shinagawa Development Project' (in Japanese), by East Japan Railway Company On 10 February 2017, construction on the station began. From 5 to 30 June 2018, JR East publicly invited citizens to submit ideas of names for the new station, via mail or online submission. They announced that the finalized name of the station would be announced during winter 2018, while on 4 December 2018, the name was announced to be "Takanawa Gateway". The Yamanote and Keihin-Tōhoku Lines between Shinagawa and Tamachi were rerouted via the new station on 16 November 2019 during construction that suspended train service on the lines from the early morning until around 4:00 PM. The station opened on 14 March 2020, ten days before the

summer Olympics The Summer Olympic Games, also known as the Summer Olympics or the Games of the Olympiad, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inaugural Games took place in 1896 in Athens, then part of the King ...

were postponed to 2021 as a result of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. However, it was believed that the shopping and dining facilities inside will not be fully completed until 2024. The second (South) Exit opened on 27 March 2025, with the opening to the public of the Takanawa Gateway City complex.

Naming

During the public naming campaign conducted by

JR East 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 ...

in June 2018, the following names were suggested for the station (in alphabetical order): *Higashi-Sengakuji Station (東泉岳寺駅) – the station is east of Sengakuji Station *JR Sengakuji Station (JR泉岳寺駅) – to distinguish it from the existing station of the same name on

*Kōnan Station (港南駅) – the station is located in the Kōnan district, southern Minato ward *Kōnan-Takanawa Station (港南高輪駅) *Minami-Minato/Nankō Station (南港駅) *Minami-Kōnan Station (南港南駅) *Nishi-Kōnan Station (西港南駅) *Nishi-Shibaura Station (西芝浦駅) *Olympics 2020 Station (オリンピック2020駅) *Shibaura Station (芝浦駅) – the

Shibaura is a district of Minato, Tokyo, Minato ward located in Tokyo, Japan. The district is located between the eastern side of the Yamanote Line train and Tokyo Bay. Shibaura consists mostly of artificial islands created by the excavation of indust ...

district is north of Kōnan *Shin-Kita-Shinagawa Station (新北品川駅) – the new station is north of

Shinagawa Station is a major railway station in the Takanawa and Konan districts of Minato, Tokyo, Japan, operated by East Japan Railway Company (JR East), Central Japan Railway Company (JR Central), and the private railway operator Keikyu. The Tokaido Shinkans ...

*Shin-Shinagawa Station (新品川駅) *Takanawa Station (高輪駅) – the Takanawa district is located west of Kōnan *Takanawa Ōkido Station (高輪大木戸駅) – ''Takanawa Ōkido'' is a historical relic located next to Sengakuji Station The results of the campaign concluded with the three top choices: Takanawa (8,398 votes), Shibaura (4,265 votes) and Shibahama (3,497 votes). However, Takanawa Gateway Station (高輪ゲートウェイ駅) was selected as the official name of the station despite receiving an exceedingly low number of votes, placing 130th overall in popularity among all submissions with 36 votes. Yuji Fukasawa, president of JR East, has justified the naming with Takanawa's historical status of being a "gateway to

Edo Edo (), also romanized as Jedo, Yedo or Yeddo, is the former name of Tokyo. Edo, formerly a (castle town) centered on Edo Castle located in Musashi Province, became the '' de facto'' capital of Japan from 1603 as the seat of the Tokugawa shogu ...

", while also serving as the site for the development of an international hub in the future. (In the 1800s, the official southern entrance to Edo, as Tokyo was then called, was the Takanawa Great Wooden Gate directly to the west of the station.) This choice has spurred criticism from several members of the public, citing the decision being made with a lack of consideration to the public's wishes. According to a poll conducted by the Japanese website ''j-town.net'', 95.8% of respondents disapproved of the name "Takanawa Gateway", while a Change.org petition calling for a name change had gathered over 9,500 signatures as of 9 December 2018. At the time the petition ended, it had 47,766 signatures.

References

External links

{{Keihin-Tōhoku Line Negishi Line Keihin-Tōhoku Line Yamanote Line Railway stations in Japan opened in 2020 Kengo Kuma buildings Buildings and structures in Minato, Tokyo