Gaiemmae Station
G03 · Ginza Line · Minato
Gaiemmae Station (外苑前)
This station began life under another name. It opened on 18 November 1938 as Aoyama-yonchome, a Tokyo Rapid Railway station, and was renamed Gaiemmae the following year after the Meiji Shrine Outer Gardens it stands beside – the name means, roughly, in front of the outer garden. The layout has stayed simple: two side platforms, one track each, numbered G03 on the Ginza Line.
The two ticket halls are named for what lies above them, one for the ginkgo avenue and one for Jingu Stadium, which tells you most of what the station is for. Event traffic shapes its days: a baseball game or a rugby match at the grounds nearby fills the platforms in a way that a weekday afternoon does not. Tokyo Metro counted 75,483 entries and exits on an average day in the 2025 survey. Omote-sando and Aoyama-itchome are the stations on either side, both within easy walking distance along Aoyama-dori.
Finding Gaiemmae on the signs
Every line gives the station its own letter-and-number code. You never have to read the Japanese name to find the right platform.
Station numbers at Gaiemmae
Tokyo signposts every platform, exit and train door with a letter and a two-digit number. Matching the number is faster than reading the name — and it is what you will see on the map, in announcements and on the platform edge.
First and last trains at Gaiemmae
Departure times come from the operators’ own GTFS timetables (ODPT GTFS Toei-Train-GTFS (version 20261009, valid 2026-03-14..2027-03-12) + TokyoMetro-Train-GTFS (version 20261008, valid 2026-09-19..2027-03-12)). Japan publishes two subway timetables: 平日 weekdays and 土休日 Saturdays, Sundays and national holidays. There is no separate Sunday timetable, and the December 30 – January 3 period runs the holiday timetable.
How often do trains run?
| Line | Weekdays, busiest hour | Sat / Sun / holidays, busiest hour |
|---|---|---|
| GGinza | 28 trains/hour (about one every 2.1 min) | 20 trains/hour |
Departures in one direction during the hour with the most trains at this station, counted in the operators’ timetable.
Next stations from Gaiemmae
Scheduled running time between Gaiemmae and the stations either side of it.
| Line | Next station | Running time |
|---|---|---|
| GGinza | G04Aoyama-itchome | 2 min |
| GGinza | G02Omote-sando | 2 min |
Transfers and connections
Only the Ginza Line stops here, and no other railway serves this station, so there is nothing to transfer to inside the station.
Accessibility
| Line | Step-free by elevator | Accessible toilet | Escalator | Exits |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GGinza | Yes | Yes | Yes | 5 |
- Ginza Line: Step-free elevator route street-gate-platform (official “1-route by elevator”). Street elevator at exit(s): 4a. Operator page (checked Oct 20, 2026).
Taken from the operators’ own accessibility pages and nothing else. Tokyo Metro: the “1-route” (step-free street-gate-platform path by elevator, slope, stair lift or wheelchair escalator) is complete at all 180 stations; a separate list shows stations with an elevator-only 1-route.
What is near Gaiemmae Station?
The Chichibunomiya Rugby Stadium is about 230 m from the exits and the Meiji Shrine Outer Gardens, with Jingu Stadium and the ginkgo avenue, begin at the same short distance. Baiso-in is roughly 150 m away, Kaizo-ji around 240 m, Ryusen-ji about 260 m and Kotokuji some 320 m. The surrounding blocks of Minami-Aoyama hold an unusual number of small commercial galleries – Art Gallery M is 50 m from an exit – along with the Watari Museum of Contemporary Art and Itochu’s headquarters.
| Place | Distance (straight line) | On foot, estimated |
|---|---|---|
| Baiso-in 梅窓院 | 150 m | about 3 min |
| Chichibunomiya Rugby Stadium 秩父宮ラグビー場 | 230 m | about 4 min |
| Kaizo-ji 海蔵寺 | 240 m | about 4 min |
| Ryusen-ji 立泉寺 | 260 m | about 4 min |
| Kotokuji 高徳寺 | 320 m | about 5 min |
| Gallery KUNIMATSU aoyama 画廊 くにまつ | 350 m | about 6 min |
| Children's Playground 南青山四丁目児童遊園 | 370 m | about 6 min |
| Art Gallery M | 50 m | about 1 min |
Places from OpenStreetMap within 400 m of the station. The walking time is an estimate (straight line plus 30 %, 80 m a minute), not a measured route. © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL.