History
Minami-Arao Station opened on 1 May 1950, added by Japanese National Railways to the existing Kagoshima Main Line in Arao, Kumamoto Prefecture, to serve the then-popular Arao Daini bathing beach at a time when the Mitsui Miike coal mines were driving rapid local population growth. The station became unstaffed on 20 February 1971, when parcel handling ended. A simple steel-framed station building replaced the original in November 1977. Control passed to JR Kyushu at the 1987 JNR privatisation. The SUGOCA IC card became usable on 1 December 2012. Around October 2018 the station was given the nickname "Ramsar Wetland Arao Tidal Flats Station".
History summarized from Japanese & English Wikipedia · last reviewed 2026-05-22.
Notes
Around October 2018 the station was given the nickname "Ramsar Wetland Arao Tidal Flats Station", marking it as the nearest stop to the Ramsar-registered Arao tidal flats.