And the most popular train station in Japan is? TV show asks foreigners

What is the most popular train station in Japan among foreigners?  The answer to this question is what we tuned into TV Asahi for on Monday evening to find out through the television network’s “senkyo” election series. 

“Foreigners put it to the vote! An election of Japan’s train stations,” (外国人がガチで投票！日本の駅総選挙) sought to rank the 35 most popular train stations in Japan among foreigners.

Over 1,000 foreigners in Japan (under what capacity is unclear) were polled by the network to discover those train stations which they had found to be particularly sugoi (amazing) or surprising, or that they simply were fond of. 

We settled in for the vicarious Japan (train) travel experience delivered under the watchful gaze of the usual rogues gallery of in-studio celebs, or “talent,” who put on their well-practiced surprised faces and proffered their insight (or confessed their ignorance - “Even Japanese people don’t know about this!”) as each station was introduced.    

Throughout the three-and-half-hour journey we remained quietly confident that Tokyo station would take out the top spot. SPOILER ALERT! Tokyo station is the most popular train station among foreigners in Japan, according to the show. 

Despite the lack of surprise as to what would be announced as the most popular station, the delivery of the ranking proved to be a fun exercise in attempting to guess what other train stations would feature and where.  

Going in, this viewer felt sure that Shinjuku station would appear at the business end of the ranking on accounts of holding a Guinness World Record as the busiest station by passenger in the world, handling an average of over 3.5 million passengers per day (in 2018).   

I was also feeling confident that the striking Tsuzumimon Gate outside Kanazawa station, Ishikawa Prefecture, would see that particular transport hub arrive comfortably inside the top 35.  

Other bankers included Shibuya (Hachiko statue and the “scramble” crossing - an average of 3,000 pedestrians with each change of the lights), Akihabara, and Harajuku (both on name value). The exterior of Kyoto station might look more like a shopping center from the 1980s than anything remotely “Kyoto,” but I felt confident that the station’s 171-step staircase would make it competitive.

What makes a train station popular? 

This is a gray area that sometimes remained gray during the show. Such is the vital role that the train station plays in life in Japan, particularly urban Japan, divisions between station and the city in which it is located can blur.

Often when we talk about a particular station in Japan, we’re talking more about the streets and buildings around it than the actual station itself. So when a ranking professes to declare the most popular train station in Japan, is it about the train station in and of itself, or the location it provides access to?  

Case in point, Kyoto station. (Yes, it did feature in the ranking, at No. 3.) Would it have ranked so high, if at all, were it not to provide access to one of the most popular sightseeing destinations in the world? 

In most cases, but not always, the makers of the show tried to bring the focus back to something unique about each of the top 35 stations - in the case of Kyoto, “a masterpiece of modern architecture,” its huge staircase and the 4,000 sheets of glass that make up the station roof. And in many cases this viewer and the line-up of in-studio talent shared a collective ignorance regarding the station’s features. 

Take Tokyo’s Ginza station which placed 22nd on the ranking. I couldn’t think of a single stand-out feature of Ginza station, other than that it is in Ginza, a district which has its own appeals. 

A vox pop pointed out that Ginza station has a kind of “sci-fi” atmosphere about it, which left me scratching my head even more.  

What did reveal itself from this though, was the much more prosaic feature of the station’s zones being decorated and color-coordinated according to the metro lines they serve - Ginza, Hibiya, and Marunouchi - something which I had entirely failed to notice of a station I often frequent. Look even closer and the pattern on the pillars that support the station structure are actually made up of a “G,” “H,” and “M,” depending on the zone.

Sapporo station, on Japan’s northernmost main island of Hokkaido, placed 19th. For many Japanese travelers Sapporo, and by default Sapporo station, is popular for the access it provides to Hokkaido’s food scene, according to the creators of the show.  

Judging by the reactions of the in-studio talent, perhaps few of these travelers are aware of the station’s underground feature, an underground passageway connecting Sapporo station with Susukino station - at 1,900m in length one of the longest underground passageways in Japan.      

The passage has its roots in the city's subway system, constructed ahead of the Sapporo 1972 Winter Olympics. 

Sapporo and Ginza might be considered more marquee station names when compared to some of the other stations that made the top 35.

Funabashi station in Chiba Prefecture near Tokyo might have come as a surprise to many at No. 17 on the ranking - it’s not even the “Funabashi” station you need for the large Tokyo-Bay Ikea, that’s Minami-Funabashi. 

For the around 3,000 (and increasing) Vietnamese residents of Funabashi City, however, the station might be deserving of an even higher rank. “There are many Japanese-language schools here, and there are factories that provide opportunities for part-time work,” a Vietnamese city officer told the show. 

Other ranking surprises for this viewer included Chiba station (for the Chiba Urban Monorail - at 15.2km the longest suspended monorail train system in the world), Omiya station (handling 13 lines, second only to Tokyo station in this regard), and Shinagawa station (a transport hub for foreign air travelers, according to the show, but a name for many Tokyo-based expats likely synonymous with visits to the nearby Tokyo Regional Immigration Services Bureau).

And so to the most popular train station in Japan among foreigners - Tokyo station. I took it for granted that it would be No.1 but now can’t say with any great confidence as to why. The akarenga “red-brick” facade? Proximity to the imperial palace? Name value? 

According to Monday night’s show, the variety of souvenirs is the main reason behind Tokyo station’s rank-topping popularity among foreigners. Among these, the Tokyo renga pan from bakery Mame Ichizu (in the station’s Ecute mall) sells some 4,400 pieces a day. A train lunchbox, or “ekiben,” themed around the N700S series shinkansen bullet train is also a draw. 

Ultimately, for this viewer, TV Asahi’s train station ranking served as a reminder to take pause every now and then to appreciate some of the quirks and features of Japan’s train stations, although not to the point that I get in the way of their smooth operation, wherein lies, arguably, their greatest appeal.  

What are your favorite train stations in Japan? Let us know in the comments!

Ranking of the most popular train stations in Japan among foreigners, according to “Foreigners put it to the vote! An election of Japan’s train stations,” (外国人がガチで投票！日本の駅総選挙), TV Asahi: 

35 - Shimo-Kitazawa (Tokyo)

34 - Takadanobaba (Tokyo)

33 - Tsuwano (Shimane Pref.)

32 - Shin-Yamaguchi (Yamaguchi Pref.)

31 - Echigo-Yuzawa (Niigata Pref.)

30 - Koenji (Tokyo)

29 - Hozukyo (Kyoto)

28 - Yuda Onsen (Yamaguchi Pref.)

27 - Chiba (Chiba Pref.)

26 - Omiya (Saitama Pref.)

25 - Nikko (Tochigi Pref.)

24 - Namba (Osaka)

23 - Hankyu Osaka Umeda (Osaka)

22 - Ginza (Tokyo)

21 - Shinagawa (Tokyo)

20 - Kamakura (Kanagawa)

19 - Sapporo (Hokkaido)

18 - Shin-Okubo (Tokyo)

17 - Funabashi (Chiba Pref.)

16 - Niseko (Hokkaido)

15 - Asakusa (Tokyo)

14 - Hakata (Fukuoka Pref.)

13 - Akihabara (Tokyo)

12 - Nagoya (Aichi Pref.)

11 - Ueno (Tokyo)

10 - Sendai (Miyagi)

9 - Yokohama (Kanagawa)

8 - Harajuku (Tokyo)

7 - Ikebukuro (Tokyo)

6 - Kanazawa (Ishikawa)

5 - Shibuya (Tokyo)

4 - Osaka (Osaka)

3 - Kyoto (Kyoto)

2 - Shinjuku (Tokyo)

1 - Tokyo (Tokyo)