2020: The Formal Introduction of a Railway Station in Tokyo

March 14, 2020

A railway station in Takanawa, a neighborhood of the special ward of Minato in Japan’s capital city of Tokyo, made its official public debut. Takanawa Gateway Station, which is operated by the East Japan Railway Company (JR East), was opened in March of 2020 so that it could be readily available over the next few months as part of the region’s transportation network accommodating people traveling to and from that year’s Summer Olympics in Tokyo. Just 10 days after the inauguration of Takanawa Gateway Station, however, the Summer Olympics were postponed until the following year due to the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic.

Construction on Takanawa Gateway Station began on February 10, 2017. This station was designed by Kengo Kuma, a renowned architect who is an emeritus professor in the Graduate School of Engineering at the University of Tokyo. Kuma’s other creations include Japan National Stadium, which was opened in 2019 and used for both the Summer Olympics and Summer Paralympics in 2021.

At the time of Takanawa Gateway Station’s opening, David Briginshaw of International Railway Journal (IRJ) highlighted how the facility “has a large glass roof reminiscent of a shoji [a type of door, window, or room divider incorporated in traditional Japanese architecture] with origami motifs.” This IRJ article also described the multi-level station’s other key features. “Takanawa Gateway has several environmentally friendly features including solar panels, small wind power generators, LED lighting and extensive use of local materials,” noted Briginshaw. “The new station will have several technical innovations including robots to provide passenger information and guidance, security to detect suspicious objects, cleaning and advertising.”

Takanawa Gateway Station’s infrastructure also includes two island platforms. One of these platforms serves JR East’s Yamanote Line while the other platform is for train passengers traveling on JR East’s Keihin-Tōhoku Line. The station is directly east of where the Takanawa Great Wooden Gate once stood. This wooden gate had been installed by the early 18^th century to serve as a checkpoint for those traveling on the Tōkaidō road in that region of Japan and also to mark the entrance to present-day Tokyo (originally known as Edo). The one-time location of the Takanawa Great Wooden Gate has been officially designated a Historic Site of Japan.

(The accompanying photo of Takanawa Gateway Station was taken the day after it opened.)

Photo Credit: Dick Thomas Johnson (licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en)

Additional information on Takanawa Gateway Station is available at https://www.railjournal.com/infrastructure/jr-east-opens-takanawa-gateway-station/

A video featuring this station is available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7v5iQHTgdeQ

For more information on rail transport in Japan, please check out https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rail_transport_in_Japan