History
Hirosaki Station opened on 1 December 1894 with the Aomori-Hirosaki section of the government Ōu Main Line, beginning freight handling ten days later. Track to Ikarigaseki opened in 1895, and on 7 September 1927 the private Kōnan Railway connected with its own Kōnan-Hirosaki terminus. A second station building debuted in December 1929, a third in April 1981 incorporating the Apprez shopping complex, and the current fourth-generation building with east-west free passage opened on 12 December 2004 carrying the Tsugaru Jongara-bushi departure melody. The Kōnan Railway depot was renamed Hirosaki on 1 April 1986. JR privatisation on 1 April 1987 split operations between JR East and JR Freight, and scheduled freight calls ended in October 2019.
History summarized from Japanese & English Wikipedia · last reviewed 2026-05-18.
Notes
Hirosaki ships more apples than any other city in Japan, and the station forecourt features an oversize apple ornament more than two metres across — a detail that helped secure its place on the Tohoku Top 100 Stations list in 2002.