A “150 Years of Nishinomiya History” panel has been installed at JR Nishinomiya Station.
(Thanks to Iroha & Kagayaki No. 509 @ Nishitsu SP for the tip.)
Here it is↓
It’s right outside the ticket gates.
It used to be called “Nishinomiya Station” written as 西ノ宮駅, not 西宮駅. Apparently, the idea was to make it easier for people from the Kanto region to read.
It was apparently built in Meiji 7 (1874). That seems to be the year the Freedom and People’s Rights Movement began, the one we learned about in history class.
31 years later. This is Hanshin Nishinomiya Station. It opened in 1905 (Meiji 38). It’s elevated now, but back then it ran at street level.
15 years after Hanshin was built. This is Hankyu Nishinomiya-kitaguchi Station. It opened in 1920 (Taisho 9). The old character 驛 really has an impact! Apparently, it’s the old form of the kanji for “station.”
JR stations including Kobe Station, Motomachi Station, Sannomiya Station, Sumiyoshi Station, Ashiya Station, and Amagasaki Station also seem to have panels for each station. They’ll be up until September 30.
Looks like commemorative admission tickets will be sold
Commemorative admission tickets will apparently go on sale from 11:00 on Monday, May 13.
Quoted from 240501_04_JROsakarailway 150th Commemorative Admission .pdf
A set of commemorative admission tickets for the six stations featured in this panel exhibition will apparently be sold for 1,500 yen, limited to 3,000 sets. They’ll be available only through the online shop.
In Closing
By the way, Koshienguchi Station was apparently built in 1934 (Showa 9), 14 years after Hankyu opened. The history panel includes plenty of other interesting bits of Nishinomiya history too, so why not take a closer look sometime?
*Iroha & Kagayaki No. 509 @ Nishitsu SP, thank you for the information!!
■■■We’re looking for tips!■■■
