History
Jōtō Station opened on 1 November 1986 as a new station of the JNR Sanyō Main Line between Seto and Higashi-Okayama, with passenger service only. With the JNR breakup on 1 April 1987, it became a JR West station. In June 2007, ICOCA-compatible simplified automatic ticket gates were installed, and ICOCA service began on 1 September 2007. Departure indicators began service on 21 April 2016. The 'Midori-no-Madoguchi' ticket office closed at the end of 31 May 2019, and the station became completely unstaffed on 1 June 2019. Station numbering (JR-S05) was introduced in September 2020.
History summarized from Japanese & English Wikipedia · last reviewed 2026-05-22.
Notes
Jōtō is read 'Jōtō', distinguishing it from the homonymous Agarimichi Station (also 上道) on the Sakai Line, which uses the alternate reading; for that reason, some JR tickets print this station as '(陽)上道', and ICOCA travel history shows it in katakana as 'ジョウトウ'. The station was built in 1986 in part with investment from real-estate developers behind the Higashi-Okayama Lake Town subdivision south of the station, which began selling in 1984. Combined with National Route 250 nearby, the resulting transit access drove rapid suburbanisation as a bedroom community for Okayama City; the area east of the station once hosted a teahouse on the old Sanyō-dō, and a legend places a grave of Minamoto no Tametomo near the fields northeast of the station.