History
Okutama Station opened on 1 July 1944 as Hikawa Station, the terminus of the Ministry of Transport and Communications' Ōme Line extension from Mitake, in what is now the town of Okutama in western Tokyo at an elevation of 343 m. The Tokyo Metropolitan Waterworks' Ogōchi private railway, built to haul materials for the Ogōchi Dam, opened from Hikawa on 16 December 1952 and was placed in suspension on 10 May 1957 as the dam neared completion. The station was renamed Okutama on 1 February 1971, parcel handling ended in 1984, and the station passed to JR East and JR Freight at privatisation on 1 April 1987. It was placed on the "100 Selected Stations of Kantō" list on 14 October 1997. The final freight train ran on 13 August 1998, JR Freight's station was abolished on 25 March 1999, Suica use began on 8 February 2002, the Okutama Station Gallery opened on 21 April 2006 with a "Donguri Korokoro" departure melody, the station was placed under contract operation in 2018, and it returned to direct JR East operation on 15 March 2025.
History summarized from Japanese & English Wikipedia · last reviewed 2026-05-18.
Notes
Okutama is the westernmost station in Tokyo Metropolis; at 343 m above sea level it is also the highest railway station in the metropolis (excluding cable cars), eight metres lower than the top of Tokyo Tower.