Obasute

Departure data for this station is not available on this site.

Obasute Station opened on 1 November 1900 with the completion of the Shinonoi Line's Shinonoi–Nishijō segment, then operated by the government railways. Built on the side of a mountain at 551 metres above sea level, it is one of the few remaining true switchback stations in Japan: through trains stay on the main line, while calling trains reverse into the platform via a level pull-out track. The station was made unstaffed in March 1972 and passed to JR East at the 1 April 1987 privatisation; it was assigned the station number SN13 in February 2025 and gained Suica acceptance and Tokyo near-suburban-zone status on 15 March 2025. A restored 1934 station building, a north-platform viewing deck installed in 2010, and a bar lounge added in 2017 for the Train Suite Shiki-shima luxury cruise train serve the steady flow of tourists who come for the view.

Obasute's switchback platforms look directly down onto the Zenkōji Plain, a view ranked among Japan's three great train-window vistas; in 2012 the station was added to the nation's Heritage of Night-Views registry.