International Railroad Discussion > Yoshioka Kaitei Station (Hokkaido, Japan)

Literally translated, Kaitei means seabed, but in context, "underwater" might be an appropriate translation, too.

There used to be two train stations along the underwater Seikan Tunnel, Tappi Kaitei (Honshu side) and Yoshioka Kaitei (Hokkaido side). Before Shinkansen construction began in March of 2006, anyone could have visited these stations, by buying a special tour ticket. While the stations remained open after 2006 for special charters, they have officially ceased operations in March of this year.

I made a visit to Yoshioka Kaitei in January of 2006, riding the Doraemon Underwater Train from Hakodate to Yoshioka Kaitei and back. For those unfamiliar, Doraemon is a Japanese anime character, a cat-like robot with countless gadgets to help solve problems.

- ED79 with a Doraemon on the nose, at Hakodate. Limited Express Super Hokuto DMU to its left.
- Another ED79 (#17) with a different Doraemon paint scheme.
- Doraemon Underwater Train sign on the actual train.

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The conductor instructed visitors to detrain at a specific car and door, since the platform is rather narrow, and he didn't want people (especially kids) wandering around. Once away from the tunnel, a tour guide took the group around various locations, but he was somewhat strict about anyone wandering about on his own.

- Station sign, Yoshioka Kaitei.
- View of the Seikan Tunnel. I think I was looking north toward Hokkaido here.
- Blurry shot of my camera pointing south. You can see the tunnel's curvature.

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- Limited Express Hakucho making a Yoshioka Kaitei station stop. (southbound)

- This northbound Hakucho (translated "white swan") did not stop.

- This is what the Hakucho looked like back in 2006. 485 series EMU specifically used to run through the Seikan Tunnel.

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- Sign says 145 meters below sea level, possibly the lowest train station in the world?

- There's an area in Yoshioka Kaitei where celebrity tiles are displayed.

- Center left is a tile of actor Toshiyuki Nishida, who became famous in the manga/anime series that was made into a series of movies about fishing, "Tsuribaka Nisshi."



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/10/14 22:35 by cchan006.

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- Some of the construction equipment used were on display.

- Maintenance passageway, which seemed to go on forever.

- Train schedules at Yoshioka Kaitei, January 2006.

Upper 4 rows are for Hakodate bound (northbound) trains, and lower 2 rows are for Aomori bound trains. Left column is the recommended time for visitors to gather, 20 minutes before departure. Shown on the center column are the train departure times out of Yoshioka Kaitei. Rightmost column is the arrival time at either Hakodate or Aomori. ~1 hour journey to Hakodate and ~1.5 hour journey to Aomori.

On the return trip, I detrained at the next stop, Kikonai, then took the next southbound limited express train for a transfer to Tohoku Shinkansen at Hachinohe, for my return trip to Tokyo. I had visited Hakodate the day before, so I didn't need to go back.

That's all for now.

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