Koji Inoue’s “Hints for Railway Travel”] How do you read this? Station with an unusual name, various

In the previous issue, the subject was “stations with the same name as a person’s name (both first name and family name),” and this time we would like to focus on stations with unusual names, such as “stations with unusual readings.

Various station names that are difficult to read

Just as there are “difficult-to-read names” for people, there are also difficult-to-read names for places and stations. Some are simply “I don’t know what it means,” while others are “different from the usual way of reading.

For example, “Emission” on JR West’s Katamachi Line (Gakkentoshi Line) is often cited as a difficult-to-read station name. It reads “Hanaten. For those in the Kinki region, this place is famous for its used car center, so an explanation is probably unnecessary.

Not only this, but there are quite a few difficult-to-read station names in the Kinki region. For example, there are Unebi and Kyobate stations on the Sakurai Line. Gose Station on the Wakayama Line is one station whose name is surprisingly easy to read.

While Emission Station is the western champion, the eastern champion is probably Nozoki Station on the Ou Main Line of East Japan Railway Company.

Kashiwabara Station is also often cited as a station with the same kanji but different readings: “Kaiwabara” for JR West’s Fukuchiyama Line, “Kashiwara” for JR West’s Kansai Main Line (Yamato Line) and Kintetsu Domyoji Line, and “Kashiwabara” for JR Tokai’s Tokaido Main Line.

The three “Kashiwabara Stations” with different readings are fine because they are located far apart, but there is another station in Kyoto City that is adjacent and has the same characters but different readings. That is Saiin Station, “saiin” for Hankyu Kyoto Line and “sai” for Keifuku Electric Railway.

Another example of a station that takes the reader by surprise is Onne Station on the Odakyu Odawara Line, which was once called Onne Station. The name was taken from the name of the village of Onemura, but the station was renamed Tokai Daigaku-mae Station in 1987 in conjunction with the reconstruction of the station building. Even if a strong wind blows in winter in this area, it is not called “daikon-oshi” (grated daikon).

Recently, there have been some situations where you need to know how to read. This is the case with transfer guide applications. The reason is that they are designed to list candidate stations as soon as the reading is entered. While this is a nice feature, it also means that if you make a reading mistake, the intended station will not appear. If you don’t correctly determine the station name in kanji, it may take you to the wrong station.

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