Historic Harajuku Station To Be Demolished After Olympics

Above, Harajuku Station. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

It seems that the East Japan Railway Company doesn't give a whit about preserving history.

Japan Today reported that the company will demolish the historic station due to "safety reasons" following the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo.

They wrote:

TOKYO - Back in June 2016, East Japan Railway announced it would be rebuilding Harajuku Station ahead of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, and while the new design promised a more modern building better able to cope with the huge crowds of commuters in the area, they were yet to make a decision on whether they would be able to preserve the old building or somehow merge it into the facade of the new one. 

Now, after three years of consultations with local retail associations and Shibuya Ward, where the station is located, JR East has come to a decision over the fate of the near-century-old building, and the conclusion they’ve reached is that the old station needs to be demolished. 

While the building, which was built in 1924 in a European style, is Tokyo’s oldest wooden station and a historic landmark, the structure itself isn’t sufficiently fire-resistant, and therefore needs to be taken away for safety reasons. 

A JR East representative said, “There were people who voiced opinions over wanting to preserve its long history, but for safety reasons the decision was made to demolish the building”. 

The wooden building will be torn down after the 2020 Olympics and Paralympics in Tokyo and replaced with a new one currently being built adjacent to it, with the grand opening scheduled for March 21 next year. While the new station will take over operations when it opens, the final completion date for works at the site is scheduled for Aug 31, 2021, a year after the Olympic Games.

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