History
Higashi-Himeji Station opened on 26 March 2016 between Gochaku and Himeji on the JR San'yō Main Line, serving an area where surrounding redevelopment had stretched the original station spacing. JR West first proposed the new station to Himeji in July 2010, a memorandum was signed in 2013, and construction ran for nearly three years. The total cost of 2.9 billion yen was largely borne by Himeji City, with the station portion split roughly 2-to-1 between national/city funding and the city covering the plaza in full. Station numbering JR-A84 was assigned when the system rolled out to the Kobe Line in March 2018.
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
The most popular name in the public ballot was "Shirasagi" (or "Hakuro"), evoking Himeji Castle, but JR West picked the runner-up "Higashi-Himeji" to avoid misleading tourists about which station is closest to the castle.