History
Sakaihigashi Station opened on 30 January 1898 as Ōshōji Station, the original terminus of the Kōya Railway, predecessor of today's Nankai Kōya Line. It took on the Sakaihigashi name in September 1900 after the line was extended toward Dōtonbori (now Shiomibashi). Successive operator changes — Kōya Tozan Railway in 1907, Ōsaka Kōya Railway in 1915, Nankai Railway in 1922, Kinki Nippon Railway during the wartime merger of 1944, and finally Nankai Electric Railway from 1 June 1947 — gave the station its current ownership. A new station building opened in 1948, the Sakaihigashi commercial complex was built in stages from 1964, and station numbering NK56 was introduced on 1 April 2012.
History summarized from Japanese & English Wikipedia · last reviewed 2026-05-18.
Notes
Although Sakai Station was the city's original main station, Sakaihigashi has long since overtaken it; the area west of Sakaihigashi became Sakai's central business district after Sakai City Hall moved there in 1944 and the 1945 firebombing pushed activity inland.