Tokyo Station Marunouchi Building

도쿄역 마루노우치 역사

Tatsuno Kingo's red-brick station building of 1914, about 335 m long. Its third storey and the two great domes, lost in the war, were restored in 2012.

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At a glance

Country: Japan
Location: Marunouchi, Tokyo, Japan
Built: 1914
Height: 46 m
Type: Infrastructure

Quick answers

Where is Tokyo Station Marunouchi Building?

Tokyo Station Marunouchi Building is in Marunouchi, Tokyo, Japan.

When was Tokyo Station Marunouchi Building built?

Tokyo Station Marunouchi Building was built in 1914.

How tall is Tokyo Station Marunouchi Building?

Tokyo Station Marunouchi Building is about 46 m tall.

Tokyo Station is the main railway station of Tokyo, Japan, in the Marunouchi business district near the Imperial Palace grounds. It opened in 1914 and is known for its red-brick station building. It is the main terminus for inter-city trains leaving Tokyo westward and a gateway for the Shinkansen bullet trains.

It is the busiest station in Japan in terms of scheduled trains, with more than 4,000 trains arriving and leaving each day. More than 500,000 people use it every day. Because the station is so big, signs divide it into the Marunouchi side on the west and the Yaesu side on the east.

The red-brick building

In 1889 a city committee planned a raised railway line, and in 1896 the government decided to build a Central Station in front of the Imperial Palace gardens. Wars delayed the work until 1908. The architect Tatsuno Kingo designed the three-story building as a restrained celebration of Japan's victory in the Russo-Japanese War. The station opened on 20 December 1914.

Guidebooks often say it was modelled on Amsterdam Centraal, but that is disputed.

A station of many lines

The station is the end point of several JR lines and is linked to two Shinkansen lines, the Tōhoku and the Tōkaidō, so bullet trains toward northern Japan and toward Osaka leave from here. Underground passages link it to Ōtemachi subway station, and you can even walk underground to Ginza, though the train is usually quicker.

It is also a big bus terminal, and the farthest overnight bus goes to Izumo-Taisha, over 800 kilometres away.

Restoring the past

The building was badly damaged in the bombing of Tokyo on 25 May 1945. After the war it was rebuilt by 1947 with only two stories and simple angular roofs instead of its original domes.

In a five-year renovation completed in October 2012, the 98-year-old Marunouchi facade was brought back to its pre-war look, with the third floor and the domes restored. The Tōkaidō Shinkansen, the world's first dedicated high-speed rail line, opened from the station in 1964.

Fun facts

More than 500,000 people use the station every day.
The Tōkaidō Shinkansen began running from the station in 1964.
The building lost its third floor and domes in 1945 and got them back in 2012.
From Tokyo Station you can take an overnight bus more than 800 kilometres to Izumo-Taisha.