History
Minakami Station is on the Jōetsu Line in the town of Minakami, Gunma Prefecture, operated by JR East. It opened on 30 October 1928 with the extension of the Jōetsu Southern Line from Gokan, and became a full Jōetsu Line stop on 1 September 1931 when the Shimizu Tunnel completed the through route to Echigo-Yuzawa; that same date saw the section between Minakami and Ishiuchi electrified. The original station building burned down in a 1951 fire and was replaced with a concrete two-storey building the following year. With the privatisation of Japanese National Railways on 1 April 1987, operation passed to JR East. The station lies 59.1 km from the line's start at Takasaki and remains the terminus for most local services from either direction.
History summarized from Japanese & English Wikipedia · last reviewed 2026-05-18.
Notes
Once a key locomotive-swap point for trains crossing the Jōetsu mountain pass, Minakami still sees most local services from both Takasaki and Echigo-Yuzawa terminate here, so passengers continuing through must change trains at the boundary.