History
Kodomonokuni Station traces its origins to 22 October 1923, when the private Miyazaki Railway opened it as Aoshima Onsen Station on its Minami-Miyazaki–Uchiumi line. On 21 March 1939 the station was abolished and replaced by a new station 700 metres closer to the line's starting point at Minami-Miyazaki, named after the newly opened Kodomonokuni recreation facility funded jointly by the railway and Miyazaki Bus. The private line closed on 1 July 1962. Japanese National Railways rebuilt the route as the Nichinan Line and reopened the station on 8 May 1963 under the name 子供の国. Baggage handling ended in October 1971, after which the station was unstaffed; it passed to JR Kyushu on 1 April 1987.
History summarized from Japanese & English Wikipedia · last reviewed 2026-05-22.
Notes
When Japanese National Railways acquired the route in 1963, Miyazaki Kōtsū president Iwakiri Shōtarō imposed an unusual condition: JNR was to keep the station open and to maintain the long oleander hedge planted beside it. Both conditions have been honoured ever since.