Hiroshima: Stationmaster Protects Remote Station Filled with ‘Good Luck’ and ‘Human Connections’

By Kayoko Hayashi / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer

14:00 JST, March 1, 2025

FUCHU, Hiroshima — A single-car KiHa 120 series diesel train traveling on the JR Fukuen Line whistled through the Chugoku Mountains as it entered the valley upstream of the Ashida River. After passing through a six-kilometer tunnel in the mountains along the Hattabara Dam, a village suddenly spread out before my eyes. I got off at Bingo-Yano Station, the fifth stop from Fuchu Station.

Bingo-Yano Station in the mountains of Fuchu, Hiroshima Prefecture, has been visited by railroad enthusiasts for many years. The wooden station building was constructed when the station opened in 1938.

The Bingo-Yano Eki Shokudo station restaurant in the building operates four days a week serving udon and soba noodles. A stray cat wandered in and out of the building as if the place were its home.

Only six trains coming from both directions, including irregular ones, stop at the station each day. They carry fewer than 15 passengers in total, but the station gets visitors from as far away as Tokyo and Osaka on weekends.

“As it’s in such a remote area, the station is difficult to reach, so we’ve been thinking of ways to make it more enjoyable for visitors,” said Takeso Sato, 73, who has been entrusted with managing the station for more than 40 years as the “commissioned stationmaster.”

The station used to be the gateway to the Yano Onsen hot spring area, which had flourished for many years because of its therapeutic effects until it went out of business in 2016.

The station, which had once been crowded with groups of tourists and young people, became unmanned in 1983 as part of the former Japanese National Railways’ streamlining efforts.

Sato, who ran a sewing business in front of the station, took the initiative to revitalize the community.

In 1984, Sato rented the station building for free and opened a restaurant there. He installed a cylindrical, yellow mailbox at the entrance of the building and a small shrine on the platform based on his idea of creating a station filled with “fuku” (good luck) and “en” (human connections), a play on the name of the Fukuen Line.

“I wanted to make the station a ‘spiritual power spot’ where people could meet and connect,” Sato said.

In recent years, many people have told him that they met their husband or wife after coming to the station. Some couples who have decided to get married have even come back to the station.

North-south disparity

The Fukuen Line runs 78 kilometers between Fukuyama Station in Fukuyama and Shiomachi Station in Miyoshi, both of which are in Hiroshima Prefecture. The line splits into two sections at Fuchu Station: the electric southern section between Fukuyama and Fuchu stations and the non-electric northern section between Fuchu and Shiomachi stations.

As there is no direct train service throughout the line, passengers have to change trains to go beyond Fuchu Station, contributing to the creation of a “north-south disparity” in the region.

In the electric section, where there is a larger population, trains with two to four cars run up to three times an hour, with an average of 6,194 passengers per kilometer per day in fiscal 2023. By contrast, the non-electric section had only 166 passengers, or about 2.5%, in the same period.

Those living near the non-electric section always express concerns about its possible discontinuation.

“If the section is discontinued, it will be difficult for students like me to go to the city to have fun, as we don’t have cars,” said Shuma Sakaigaichi, 15, a first-year student at Joge High School along the section. “I hope this important means of transportation for locals will be maintained.”

Sato said: “I want to continue to be present at the station until the end of my life to protect the section and the station. That’s my reason for living.”