Kannon Station

Kannon Station (観音駅, Kannon-eki) is a railway station on the privately operated Chōshi Electric Railway Line in Chōshi, Chiba, Japan.

Kannon Station 観音駅
Kannon Station in August 2012
Location	36–1 Maejuku-chō, Chōshi-shi, Chiba-ken 288–0031 Japan
Coordinates	35°43′44″N 140°50′24″E
Operated by	Chōshi Electric Railway
Line(s)	Chōshi Electric Railway Line
Distance	1.1 km from Chōshi
Platforms	1 side platform
Tracks	1
Construction
Parking	No
Disabled access	Slopes
History
Opened	December 1913
Rebuilt	1925, 1991
Electrified	1 July 1925
Passengers
FY2010	108 daily
Location
Kannon Station Location within Chiba Prefecture Kannon Station Kannon Station (Japan)

Lines

Kannon Station is served by the 6.4 km Chōshi Electric Railway Line from Chōshi to Tokawa. It is between Nakanochō and Moto-Chōshi stations, and is one kilometer from Chōshi Station.[1]

Station layout

The station consists of one side platform serving a single track.[2] The station building was rebuilt in December 1991 to resemble a Swiss mountain railway station.[3] The station is staffed,[1] and, until March 2017, included a shop which baked taiyaki cakes.[4]

• 
  The ticket office and waiting area in November 2017
• 
  The former taiyaki cake shop in November 2017
• 
  The station platform in November 2017

Adjacent stations

«		Service	»
Chōshi Electric Railway Line
Nakanochō		-	Moto-Chōshi

History

Kannon Station first opened in December 1913 as a station on the Chōshi Sightseeing Railway (銚子遊覧鉄道, Chōshi Yūran Tetsudō), which operated a distance of 5.9 km between Chōshi and Inuboh.[5] The railway closed in November 1917,[5] but was reopened on 5 July 1923 as the Chōshi Railway.[1] In 1925, the station was moved to its current location, further away from Nakanochō Station.[3]

The taiyaki cake shop inside the station was scheduled to close at the end of March 2017, over 40 years after it opened in 1976.[4]

Passenger statistics

In fiscal 2010, the station was used by an average of 108 passengers daily (boarding passengers only).[6] The passenger figures for past years are as shown below.

Fiscal year	Daily average
2007	152[7]
2008	171[8]
2009	127[9]
2010	108[6]

Surrounding area

• Enpuku-ji temple[3]
• Chōshi Municipal Sports Centre
• Chiba Prefectural Choshi High School

See also

• List of railway stations in Japan

References

1. Terada, Hirokazu (19 January 2013). データブック日本の私鉄 [Databook: Japan's Private Railways]. Japan: Neko Publishing. p. 208. ISBN 978-4-7770-1336-4.
2. Shirato, Sadao (June 2011). 銚子電気鉄道（上） [Choshi Electric Railway Volume One]. Japan: Neko Publishing Co., Ltd. pp. 28–29. ISBN 978-4-7770-5309-4.
3. メルヘン駅舎（各駅案内） [Fairy tale station buildings (Station information)] (in Japanese). Choshi Electric Railway. Archived from the original on 10 May 2013. Retrieved 2 June 2014.
4. 銚子電鉄 観音駅の「たい焼き」店閉店へ　愛され４０年 [Choshi Electric Railway Kannon Station taiyaki shop to close after 40 years]. Mainichi Shimbun (in Japanese). Japan: The Mainichi Newspapers. 19 February 2017. Archived from the original on 20 February 2017. Retrieved 20 February 2017.
5. Shirato, Sadao (March 2014). 銚子遊覧鉄道 [Chōshi Sightseeing Railway]. The Railway Pictorial (in Japanese). Japan: Denkisha Kenkyūkai. 64 (887): 108–109.
6. 民鉄等駅別1日平均運輸状況 2010(平成22)年度 [Private railway average daily passenger figures by station (Fiscal 2010)] (Excel) (in Japanese). Japan: Chiba Prefectural Government. 2011. Retrieved 2 June 2014.
7. 民鉄等駅別1日平均運輸状況 2007(平成19)年度 [Private railway average daily passenger figures by station (Fiscal 2008)] (Excel) (in Japanese). Japan: Chiba Prefectural Government. 2011. Retrieved 2 June 2014.
8. 民鉄等駅別1日平均運輸状況 2008(平成20)年度 [Private railway average daily passenger figures by station (Fiscal 2008)] (Excel) (in Japanese). Japan: Chiba Prefectural Government. 2011. Retrieved 2 June 2014.
9. 民鉄等駅別1日平均運輸状況 2009(平成21)年度 [Private railway average daily passenger figures by station (Fiscal 2009)] (Excel) (in Japanese). Japan: Chiba Prefectural Government. 2011. Retrieved 2 June 2014.

External links

• Official website (in Japanese)