History
Ikebukuro Station opened on 1 April 1903 as a passenger-only station when the Yamanote Line's Ikebukuro–Tabata branch entered service, with goods handling added in October 1906 and nationalisation a month later. The station building burned down on 13 April 1945 in a wartime air raid. The Marunouchi Line subway platforms opened on 20 January 1954, the Yūrakuchō Line on 30 October 1974, and the Yūrakuchō "New Line" — initially branded "New Line Ikebukuro" — on 7 December 1994. On 14 June 2008 the Fukutoshin Line opened and the New Line platforms were rebranded simply as Ikebukuro; numbering F 09 was assigned. Platform-edge doors entered service on the Fukutoshin platforms on 1 April 2008 and on the Yūrakuchō platforms on 22 January 2011.
History summarized from Japanese & English Wikipedia · last reviewed 2026-06-09.
Where the English and Japanese sources differ, this account follows the Japanese source.
Notes
Although their kanji literally mean "west" (西武 Seibu) and "east" (東武 Tōbu), at Ikebukuro the Seibu Railway platforms sit on the east side of the station and the Tōbu Railway platforms on the west — a layout that has confused first-time visitors for over a century.