History
Shibukawa Station opened on 1 July 1921 with the Joetsu South Line's extension from Shin-Maebashi, after the town of Shibukawa lobbied to bring the route along the right bank of the Tone River. It is the official terminus of the Agatsuma Line, opened in stages from 2 January 1945 and electrified on 10 June 1967. JR East and JR Freight took over operations on 1 April 1987 with the JNR privatisation. The station gained the tagline 'Ikaho Onsen - Mt Haruna Gateway' for its tourist role and serves as a hub for buses to those destinations and to Tokyo and Osaka long-distance services.
History summarized from Japanese & English Wikipedia · last reviewed 2026-05-18.
Notes
A sculpture in the station's bus-rotary marks Shibukawa's claim to lie at the geographical centre of Japan, set within a large pavement map of the country.