Defunct Station in Tokyo’s Ueno Unveiled before Renovation

June 20, 2018

Tokyo- The inside of the Keisei Line's now-defunct Hakubutsukan Dobutsuen Station (Museum Zoo Station), located in Tokyo's Ueno district, was unveiled to the media on Tuesday, before work to renovate the train station starts in early July, ahead of its public opening this autumn.

Keisei Electric Railway Co., the operator of the line, will conduct the refurbishment in cooperation with Tokyo University of the Arts. The inside of the station was shown for the first time since it went out of service in 1997.

Located underground and situated beneath the southwestern edge of the site for Tokyo National Museum, the station was opened in December 1933, along with Keisei Ueno Station on the line. It was mainly used by visitors to the museum and other museums, as well as Ueno Zoo, in the Ueno Park area, and students of the art university, near the park.

The station was built upon the approval of Japanese Emperor Hirohito, the father of current Emperor Akihito and posthumously known as Emperor Showa, because the station site was owned by the Imperial Family at the time.

The station's entrance building, located above ground, has pillars on its facade and was designated as a historical building by the Tokyo metropolitan government in April this year, becoming the first railway-related facility given the status.

Some 1,600 to 1,700 people used the station per day until the early 1990s. The station gradually lost users, however, after six-car trains became standard, because it could accommodate trains with up to only four cars. The daily number of passengers stood at 863 on average in 1996.

In the upcoming work, plaster and tiles inside the station will be repaired, and the front door of the entrance building will be decorated with a relief designed by Japanese artist Katsuhiko Hibino, who also serves as dean at the Faculty of Fine Arts at Tokyo University of the Arts.

Items to be displayed at the station for the public viewing will be decided by the university and Keisei Electric Railway after the completion of the renovation work, informed sources said. Jiji Press