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

Hyūga, Miyazaki 270px, Hyūga city hall is a city in Miyazaki Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 57,746, and a population density of 170 persons per km²., making it the 4th largest city in Miyazaki Prefecture in terms of population ...

, Japan. It is operated by

JR Kyushu 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 hydrofoil service across the Tsushima Strait be ...

and is on the

Nippō Main Line The is a railway line in Kyushu, in southern Japan, operated by Kyushu Railway Company (JR Kyushu). Also known as the Fukuhoku Nippo Line, The line connects Kokura Station in Kitakyushu, Fukuoka, and Kagoshima Station in Kagoshima, Kagoshima, K ...

. Hyūgashi Station is located at the heart of Hyuga, Miyazaki. The current station is a timber-steel hybrid structure built in 2008 by Naito Architecture & Associates. It was built as a functional train station and also with the intention of being a symbol of the city.

Lines

The station is served by the

and is located 276.7 km from the starting point of the line at .

Layout

The station consists of an

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 ...

serving two tracks at grade. The station building was constructed over a period of more than 10 years with the cooperation of architecture and urban experts, railway officials, government officials, and citizens, including architect Hiroshi Naito and Osamu Shinohara of the

University of Tokyo The University of Tokyo (, abbreviated as in Japanese and UTokyo in English) is a public research university in Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan. Founded in 1877 as the nation's first modern university by the merger of several pre-westernisation era ins ...

. Cedar was used because there was a strong request from the local community for it to be used, and although it is an elevated station, it is built to resemble a wooden structure. In September 2008, the station biolding won the Grand Prize at the

Brunel Award The ''Brunel Awards'' are given to railway companies, to encourage outstanding visual design in railway architecture, graphics, industrial design and art, technical infrastructure and environmental integration, and rolling stock. The name is ass ...

, an international design contest related to railways. This is the first time in Japan that a station building has won this award. In addition, the redevelopment of the area around the station won the grand prize in the urban space category of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism's 2014 Urban Landscape Award. 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

History

The station opened on 11 October 1921 as on 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). It was renamed Hyūgashi Station on 25 May 1963. 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 Kyushu. Freight operations were suspended from 1989 and the freight tracks were abolished in 1993. In September 2024, the station was temporarily renamed to to commemorate the Hinata Fes event by the music group

Hinatazaka46 is a Japanese idol group produced by Yasushi Akimoto. The group was established as a subgroup of Sakurazaka46, Keyakizaka46 named Hiragana Keyakizaka46 on 30 November 2015, and was renamed and spun off into its own group on 11 February 2019. ...

, held on 7–8 September.

Passenger statistics

In fiscal 2016, the station was used by an average of 1405 passengers daily (boarding passengers only).

Surrounding area

The area in and around the station is regularly used for events and festivals. *

Japan National Route 10 240px, Route 10, Ōita 240px, Route 10, Fukuoka, Kanda is a Japanese highway on the island of Kyushu. It originates at the intersection with Route 2 in Kitakyushu, Furoka and passes through the prefectural capitals of Ōita and Miyazaki ...

References

External links

JR Kyushu station information
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hyugashi Station Railway stations in Miyazaki Prefecture Stations of Kyushu Railway Company Railway stations in Japan opened in 1921 Hyūga, Miyazaki