History
Kami-Usuki Station opened on 18 July 1917 as an additional station on the existing Hōshū Main Line in the city of Usuki, Ōita, under Japanese Government Railways. The line was renamed the Nippō Main Line on 15 December 1923. Parcel handling ended in February 1984, and the station was outsourced to a third party in November 1984. After JNR's 1987 privatisation, control passed to JR Kyushu. The station was destaffed on 14 March 2015 as part of JR Kyushu's cost-reduction programme ahead of its 2016 stock-market listing. Local tradition holds that the station was sited closer than usual to nearby Usuki Station as a political favour to a local Kenseikai-faction Diet member.
History summarized from Japanese & English Wikipedia · last reviewed 2026-05-22.
Notes
Local lore says the station was sited only a short distance from neighbouring Usuki Station because two rival Diet members, both Usuki natives, wanted to claim the credit for railway access — and one engineered the second station to spite the other.