History
Echigo-Iwatsuka Station opened on 1 March 1945 as a provisional halt of the wartime Ministry of Transport, restricted to commuter-pass holders, and was upgraded to a full station on 1 June 1945. Located in the Iizuka district of Nagaoka, Niigata Prefecture, on the Shin'etsu Main Line, it stands 60.5 kilometres from the line's terminus at Naoetsu. Parcel handling ended and staffing was withdrawn on 1 December 1971; a former JNR employee briefly resumed ticket sales from 1 April 1972 to 14 March 1985, after which the station was destaffed again. Operations passed to JR East on 1 April 1987 with the privatisation of Japanese National Railways.
History summarized from Japanese & English Wikipedia · last reviewed 2026-05-18.
Notes
Every spring since 2002 local volunteers have hoisted koinobori carp streamers along the line, so train passengers see them sailing above the rails as they pass through Echigo-Iwatsuka.