Nanukamachi Station

A retro station building that has become a symbol of Nanukamachi-dori.

It is also the departure and arrival point of the Machinaka sightseeing bus and is busy with many visitors during the tourist season.
During winter, the station building and the trees around it are illuminated, creating a fantastic scene together with the snowy landscape.
The exterior walls are a bit weathered, but the station brings back memories of Japan's traditional railway stations. You may even hear the local dialect among the crowds.

The station has no coin lockers, but the Nanukamachi Tourist Information Center nearby offers a paid baggage storage service.
The Nanukamachi Station Cafe is located inside the station.

The passion behind opening the stationNanukamachi Station is located between Aizuwakamatsu Station and Nishi-Wakamatsu Station. Because the distance between those two stations is short, establishing a new Nanukamachi Station in between required great effort and coordination.
The station's beginnings and the prewar Nanukamachi StationIn 1934, Nanukamachi Station opened together with Wakamiya Station and Negishi Station, but they were established as stops only for gasoline railcars (railcars powered by a gasoline engine).
The line that included Nanukamachi Station was served by gasoline railcars of the type "Kiha 41000." Until then, steam engines had been the mainstream power source for railcars, but vehicles with gasoline engines, which offered higher output and lighter weight, began to appear.
The Railway Ministry (later Japanese National Railways) developed a standard gasoline railcar using mostly domestically produced parts. That was the Kiha 41000.

At the same time that Nanukamachi Station was being used only as a stop for gasoline railcars, petitions were being made to upgrade it to a full station with facilities that could also accommodate ordinary trains.
Gasoline railcars did not have strong pulling power, and they usually ran alone or pulled at most one passenger car, so they could serve even stations with short platforms. However, to stop trains pulling many passenger cars or freight, station facilities were required.

However, as the Pacific War worsened, wartime controls caused a shortage of gasoline, the fuel for gasoline railcars.
As a result, gasoline railcar operations were discontinued, and Nanukamachi Station, which had been a stop only for gasoline railcars, was suspended on June 20, 1945. At the same time, the petitions to upgrade it to a full station had to be put on hold under the circumstances of the time.
Postwar development of the stationWhen the Pacific War ended, events began to move again.
On June 20, 1946, the suspended Nanukamachi Station resumed service as trains returned to the station.
At the same time, momentum for petitions to make Nanukamachi Station a full station revived.
On March 13, 1947, a petition was submitted to the national legislature, and records of its deliberation remain.

Petition submitted March 13, 1947
Petition to change Nanukamachi Station to a general station (No. 262)
Petitioners: Kisaemon Takase and 21 others, 1-30 Nanukamachi 1-chome, Wakamatsu City, Fukushima Prefecture
Introducing Diet member: Torakichi Nakano
The purpose of this petition is as follows. Aizuwakamatsu Station in Fukushima Prefecture is located at the northern end of Wakamatsu City, and Nishi-Wakamatsu Station is at the western end. Because of this, passengers from the central part of Wakamatsu City, where the population is largest, face considerable inconvenience. Nanukamachi Station, however, is located between Aizuwakamatsu Station and Nishi-Wakamatsu Station, in the central part of the city, where two-thirds of Wakamatsu's population lives. Until now, Nanukamachi Station has had only two train stops per day and no station facilities. The petitioners therefore ask that Nanukamachi Station be changed to a general station and provided with complete station facilities.

Diet proceedings: House of Representatives, Petition Committee, 92nd Imperial Diet, March 24, 1947
512 Jinnosuke Otsuka
- Chairman Otsuka: Next is agenda item 83, the petition to change Nanukamachi Station to a general station, document No. 262, introduced by Diet member Torakichi Nakano.
513 Kotaro Bando
- Member Bando: The purpose of this petition is as follows. Aizuwakamatsu Station in Fukushima Prefecture is located at the northern end of Wakamatsu City, and Nishi-Wakamatsu Station is at the western end. Because of this, passengers from the central part of Wakamatsu City, where most of the population lives, face considerable inconvenience. Nanukamachi Station, however, is located between Aizuwakamatsu Station and Nishi-Wakamatsu Station, in the central part of the city, where two-thirds of Wakamatsu's population lives. Until now, Nanukamachi Station has had only two train stops per day and no station facilities. The petition asks that Nanukamachi Station be changed to a general station and given complete station facilities. I would like to hear the government's views immediately.
514 Nobuji Okada
- Government representative Okada: The Nanukamachi Station on the Aizu Line opened in June of last year. This station was originally built mainly for passengers of gasoline railcars, so its facilities are not designed to handle passengers of ordinary steam-hauled trains. It currently only stops for commuter and school trains. Under current coal supply conditions, it is difficult to increase the number of train stops for the time being. As for changing it to a general station as requested, we would like to decide after thoroughly investigating the local situation and other factors.
515 Kotaro Bando
- Member Bando: I would like the petition to be adopted.
516 Jinnosuke Otsuka
- Chairman Otsuka: Are there any objections to adopting the petition? [Voices: "No objection."]
517 Jinnosuke Otsuka
- Chairman Otsuka: The petition is adopted.

Thanks to these efforts by local volunteers, the station building that became the predecessor of the present station was finally built in 1948.The station building budget was about 1.3 million yen at the time, of which 630,000 yen came from local donations, 300,000 yen from donations from nearby villages, and 500,000 yen was borne by Wakamatsu City.In this way, Nanukamachi Station finally became a general station.

Operating section list for internal combustion railcars, recorded in "Speed and Track Maintenance" by Taka Mori, published in 1936.
According to this list, as of August 1, 1935, four third-class gasoline railcars "Kiha 41000" were allocated to the Aizu Line Aizuwakamatsu - Yanaizu section, and three of them were in use.


Train timetable published in 1935.
The notation "Kiha" in the timetable stands for the gasoline railcar type "Kiha," and Nanukamachi Station is listed as a station where only third-class gasoline railcars (Kiha) stop.
Negishi and Wakamiya stations, which opened around the same time as Nanukamachi Station, are also listed as stops for Kiha railcars only.
Images of the Fukushima Prefecture timetable from that time, including the Aizu Line and Banetsu-Seisen Line, can be viewed in the Nanukamachi.com Digital Archive.

Nanukamachi.com Digital Archive: Train Timetable, Yasuda Bank Ltd., Fukushima Branch

The circumstances of Nanukamachi Station's opening are recorded on the Nanukamachi Station Opening Memorial Stone in front of the station.
The base of this memorial stone was once the base of the Aizu Shindo Monument, which stood at the Omachi crossroads.

(Click the image to view the high-resolution version. 3.32 MB)

Commemoration of the Opening of Nanukamachi Station
From the Meiji Restoration onward, the development of Japan's culture, industry, and economy has rested on a foundation of transport networks built with railway facilities, and this was truly the cornerstone.
The glorious history of Aizu, which has reached its present form, is likewise the same.
Meiji 32(1899): Opening of the Iwaki-Etsu Railway between Koriyama and Wakamatsu
Taisho 3(1914): Full opening of the Banetsu-Seisen Line between Wakamatsu and Niitsu
Showa 2(1927): Opening of the Aizu Takinohara Line to Kaminyoi
Showa 3(1928): Opening of the Aizu Kawaguchi Line to Yanaizu, which clearly marks this city's transformation into a modern urban center

Nanukamachi-dori had long flourished as an important point on the Echigo Highway and boasted the busiest shopping street in Wakamatsu. However, once the two Aizu lines opened, trains passed straight through, and the street declined year by year.
The townspeople of Nanukamachi, worried about the future of their town, strongly petitioned the relevant authorities for a station in Nanukamachi. However, the distance between Aizuwakamatsu Station and Nishi-Wakamatsu Station is only 3.1 km (3 km 1 bu; 3.1 km = 3 km + one-tenth of a km), and there was no precedent in Japan for placing a station in between, so realizing it was extremely difficult.
However, thanks to the tireless efforts of public-spirited volunteers, in November 1934 a stop for gasoline cars only was finally established. Afterward, the number of people using the unstaffed Nanukamachi Station grew year by year, and momentum to upgrade it to a general station rose again. Petitions continued, but with the outbreak of the Pacific War, they had to be suspended for the time being.

With Japan as a whole recovering after the war and momentum for a general station reviving, in January 1947 the Nanukamachi Station Establishment Promotion League, chaired by Kenji Shibukawa, was formed. With strong cooperation from many people, including Mr. Hashimoto, then a Railway Construction Official of the House of Councillors, the local members of both houses of the Diet, prefectural assembly members, and three generations of Wakamatsu City mayors and city council members, they petitioned the Sendai Railway Bureau to establish the station as a station built on request.
In May 1948, the Nanukamachi Station Construction Committee, chaired by Mr. Kobayashi, was also established, and its members devoted themselves to raising funds for the station building.
The enthusiasm of local residents stimulated the relevant government agencies in various ways, and after many twists and turns, the Nanukamachi Station of today was finally born on December 5, 1948.

The station building budget at the time was about 1.3 million yen (1,300,000 yen), of which 630,000 yen came from local donations, 300,000 yen from donations from nearby villages, and 500,000 yen was borne by Wakamatsu City.

Later, in 1955, the name was changed to Aizuwakamatsu City with the merger of the villages of Shimo-Hachigamura in Kita-Aizu District. It became a city that was truly first in Aizu, and Nanukamachi Station became the base station for all of Aizu as well as the central station of the city.

Considering the current emphasis on building industrial and core cities, and that construction of the Yagan Line and the Tadami Line has been decided this year, it is clear that the station will hold an extremely important position in the future. Hoping for its great development as the central station of Aizuwakamatsu, this record was written to commemorate the 15th anniversary of Nanukamachi Station's opening.

December 5, 1962
Takeshi Yokoyama※1, Mayor of Aizuwakamatsu City, wrote the title and text
Calligraphy by Mr. Kobayashi

※1Takeshi Yokoyama (1906 - 1971), Mayor of Aizuwakamatsu City. He worked hard to rebuild Tsuruga Castle, and a bronze statue of him stands near the castle keep.

The decline of the station and the road to revivalIn 1950, the Comprehensive National Land Development Act was enforced, and due to the influence of the Korean War that broke out around the same time, Japan's economy developed. To make up for the shortage of electric power, hydroelectric development of the Tadami River began. Nanukamachi Station became busy as the entrance and exit for transport to these construction sites. (Nanukamachi.com Digital Archive: Hydroelectric Development of the Tadami River)
However, from around 1955, as the construction work related to the power development was completed, the crowds at Nanukamachi Station also disappeared.

After that, Nanukamachi-dori came to be seen not just as a passing point but as a center of town development and an important place.
Just as Nanukamachi-dori was succeeding in escaping from a street of shuttered shops and creating a new townscape, the atmosphere of Nanukamachi Station, then an unstaffed station, was not considered good.
To brighten the atmosphere of the station to match the townscape, the Nanukamachi-dori Council first petitioned JR East to station staff at the station. After persistent negotiations, although the station did not become staffed, it became possible to lease the station building.
Then, with the Nanukamachi-dori Council taking the lead and with financial support from Fukushima Prefecture and Aizuwakamatsu City, the station building was renovated into a Western-style building in the Taisho romantic style. At the same time, an antenna shop for Aizu regional specialties was set up inside. As a result, the station has changed dramatically into the starting point for sightseeing on Nanukamachi-dori and a symbol of the street, which it remains today.