History
Chihoku Station opened on 1 November 1959 as the Chihoku Temporary Halt on the Japanese National Railways Soya Main Line between Chiebun and Minami-Bifuka, after residents and Nayoro City lobbied for a stop to develop tourism at the nearby Chiebun Marsh. (One local newspaper from 1961 records the opening as 1 December 1961 instead.) The halt was upgraded to a full station and renamed Chihoku on 1 April 1987 at the JNR privatisation, with operating kilometres set on 10 March 1990. On 1 November 1991 widening of Hokkaido Highway 252 forced the platform to move 120 metres closer to Chiebun. Since April 2021 maintenance has been funded by Nayoro City.
History summarized from Japanese & English Wikipedia · last reviewed 2026-05-18.
Notes
Chihoku sits directly opposite Chiebun Marsh (Chiebun-numa), a backwater of the Teshio River whose population of crimson-finned carp (hibuna) was the original justification residents and the city used when petitioning JNR to build the halt.