JR East to rebuild Tokyo’s Harajuku Station amid tourism boom

East Japan Railway Co. plans to rebuild the Harajuku Station building in Shibuya Ward, Tokyo, amid increasing numbers of passengers passing through the facility, which dates from the 1920s.

Sources said Monday a rebuild is considered necessary ahead of the 2020 Olympics, when even more people are expected to head to the area.

The Olympic handball event and Paralympic badminton and wheelchair rugby tournaments will take place at the nearby Yoyogi National Gymnasium.

Harajuku Station opened in 1906, north of the current site. The present building was put up in 1924 following the establishment of the Meiji Shrine nearby.

A platform reserved for the Imperial Family still exists on the north side of the station. The new station building is expected to be built to the south of the current building, the sources said.

An average of 70,000 passengers used the station each day in fiscal 2014.

The Harajuku area has increasingly attracted visitors from abroad as a center of Japanese youth culture. Entry to the station is regulated on weekends and national holidays due to the rising number of foreign tourists loaded down with luggage.