Tuesday 19 July 2011

Umishibaura, Oceanfront Station in Tokyo's Urban Area


 EMU JR East 205-1100 series at Umishibaura Station, the Umishibaura Branch Line

If you would like to experience something unique in the Tokyo metropolitan area, I thoroughly recommend visiting Umishibaura Station in the bay area. The platform is blue ocean front and also you can get a fine view of the elegantly styled Tsurumi Tsubasa Bridge on the Tokyo Bay Highway.

Umishibaura Station is a terminal of the Umishibaura Branch Line of JR East. The line is a single-track railway. You can get there in only half an hour from Shinagawa, a subcenter of Tokyo. The function of this station is to commute people who work for Toshiba Keihin Factory. So, we see trains frequently during rush hour; but, there is only a train once every two hours in the daytime. For your information, passengers, who aren’t Toshiba employees, cannot exit the station, because it’s located within the Toshiba private site. Instead of this restriction, Toshiba kindly provides the public with a lovely small park in front of the platform.

I was surprised that there are many visitors at the station and the park in the weekend, although it’s not a sightseeing spot. They were couples, families and rail fans who enjoyed this unique station in their own way. How did they learn about this spot? It’s probably because TV programs sometimes introduced there as an ocean front station near downtown Tokyo. According to the TV, the night view is also lovely, so I will visit there during the evening hours next time.

 
View of Tsurumi Tsubasa Bridge from Umishibaura Station