History
Ugo-Sakai Station opened on 21 August 1904 as Sakai Station under Japan's state railway, serving Arakawa village in Senboku District, Akita Prefecture. It was renamed Ugo-Sakai on 1 July 1919 to remove the name clash with two other Sakai stations across Japan, which were renamed the same day. Freight handling ended in September 1975 and parcel service in March 1985; the station became simply staffed in 1986 and was absorbed into JR East with the 1987 privatisation. A reserve track for the Akita Shinkansen opened on 1 December 2002 to enable passing manoeuvres, and the current wooden station building, inspired by the local Mahoroba Karamatsu Nō theatre, was completed in February 2004.
History summarized from Japanese & English Wikipedia · last reviewed 2026-05-18.
Notes
When the station was renamed Ugo-Sakai on 1 July 1919, two other Japanese stations sharing the name Sakai were renamed on the very same day, becoming Sakaiminato and Musashi-Sakai.