Timetable information
Weekday departures: 38/day · Sat & holiday departures: 38/day
First / last departure (weekday): 6:39 / 22:19
Busiest hour: 14:00–15:00 (4)
0:00 ─ 23:00
Figures are typical departures in the timetable data, not a live service count.
Timetable data as of 2 May 2026.
Location
History
Shirahama Station opened on 20 December 1933 as Shirahamaguchi Station (白浜口駅) when the Kisei West Line was extended south from Kii-Tanabe to Kii-Tomida. Freight handling ended on 15 January 1961, and the station was renamed Shirahama on 1 March 1965. The current steel-framed station building, built by the JNR Tennōji Management Bureau for ¥200 million, was completed on 1 October 1985. With the 1 April 1987 privatisation of JNR the station passed to JR West, and ICOCA acceptance began on 17 December 2016 via dedicated card readers. The layout — one side platform and one island platform serving four tracks — was renumbered in March 2008, when the cut-out bay at the end of the side platform became platform 0. Shirahama serves as the gateway to the historic Shirahama hot-spring resort; every "Kuroshio" limited express calls here, and about half of them turn back toward Shin-Ōsaka and Kyoto.
Notes
From June through August each year, station staff, rental-car clerks, and kiosk staff wear aloha shirts — a 1980s tourism tie-in stemming from the local Shirara-hama beach's sister-beach pact with Waikiki in Hawaii.
Sources
- Wikipedia (English) (opens in a new tab)
- Wikipedia (日本語) (opens in a new tab)
- Photo: MaedaAkihiko · CC BY-SA 4.0 (opens in a new tab) · Wikimedia Commons (opens in a new tab)
Last updated: 2026-05-22