Tokyo: Train station to get Harry Potter makeover

The Yomiuri Shimbun

1:00 JST, October 20, 2022

A Tokyo train station is to be transformed into a gateway for a new Harry Potter theme park scheduled to open in 2023.

Seibu Railway Co. will renovate Toshimaen Station in Nerima Ward, the closest station to the new park, which is being constructed on the site of the Toshimaen amusement park that closed in 2020. The station’s platforms will be redesigned to conjure the atmosphere of the popular Harry Potter film franchise.

The Seibu Toshima Line station will be designed to evoke Hogsmeade Station, the gateway to the wizarding world in the movie series. The pillars and benches of the new platforms at Toshimaen Station will be given the same red color as used at Hogsmeade.

Parts of Ikebukuro Station — the starting point of the Seibu Toshima Line — will also be given a Harry Potter-themed refit to give a fillip to visitors heading for the theme park. The railway company said platforms 1 and 2 — where trains bound for and from Toshimaen Station arrive and depart — will be updated to resemble London’s Kings Cross Station, which featured in the Harry Potter films.

According to Seibu Railway, construction has been already begun at both stations and is expected to be completed next spring.