Tokyo Station
Tokyo station at night
Tokyo has over 450 subway and rail stations, so for one to bear the name “Tokyo Station,” it has to be something special. Tokyo station is one of the oldest in the city, and with over 3,000 trains passing through it every day, it’s the busiest rail station in the country (in terms of trains, not passengers – that distinction belongs to Shinjuku station, with an average of over 3.6 million passengers per day). It’s located near the Imperial Palace and the busy Ginza district.
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When we were living in Tokyo, Maria’s office was a short walk from Tokyo station. The boys and I would occasionally meet her there for dinner, in one of the many restaurants in the endless, sprawling underground complex below the station, or in the Marunouchi Oazo shopping center across the street (home of Com Pho, which I wrote about a while back). JAXA (Japan’s space agency) maintains a small, free museum in Marunouchi Oazo. It was a favorite hangout for the boys and I whenever we had to wait for Maria.
Tokyo station’s western facade, pictured above, is one of just a precious few significant pre-war structures still standing in Tokyo:
Tokyo Station opened on December 18, 1914… In 1921, Prime Minister Hara Takashi was assassinated at the south gates… Much of the station was destroyed in two B-29 firebombings on May 25 and June 25, 1945. These bombings shattered the impressive glass domes. The station was quickly rebuilt within the year, but simple angular roofs were built in place of the domes, and the restored building was only two stories tall instead of three… The main station facade on the western side of the station is brick-built, surviving from the time when the station opened… It is the main intercity rail terminal in Tokyo, the busiest station in Japan in terms of number of trains per day (over 3,000), and the eighth-busiest in Japan in terms of passenger throughput…The whole complex is linked by an extensive system of underground passageways which merge with surrounding commercial buildings and shopping centres.
