Higashi-koenji Station
M04 · Marunouchi Line · Suginami
Higashi-koenji Station (東高円寺)
This station was an afterthought, and the tunnel shows it. When the stretch through here opened on 1 November 1961 there was no stop, only a tunnel designed so that one could be cut in later. The abolition of the Suginami tram route in 1963 left the neighbourhood without a railway, residents pressed for the station, and work began on 20 January 1964; it opened on 18 September that year, weeks before the Tokyo Olympics. Building it meant breaking out the side walls of a live tunnel to form two platforms 3 m wide, behind steel protection screens, with trains crawling past at 20 km/h.
Higashi-koenji sits under Ome-kaido, numbered M04, with a platform on each side of the track pair and its own ticket gates for each. The passage linking them was originally outside the gates, which was unusual at the time: a local church minister had argued that people needed a safe way to cross the traffic above, so the subway provided one. Once a footbridge was built nearby the argument fell away, and the passage was brought inside the gates on 19 June 2012. The Marunouchi Line took its present name in 1972; the 2025 survey counted 33,926 entries and exits a day.
Finding Higashi-koenji 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 Higashi-koenji
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 Higashi-koenji
| Line and direction | Weekdays first – last | Saturdays, Sundays & holidays first – last |
|---|---|---|
| MMarunouchiM04 towards Ikebukuro | 05:07 – 00:17 to Nakano-sakaue | 05:07 – 00:17 to Nakano-sakaue |
| MMarunouchiM04 towards Ogikubo | 05:04 – 00:23 | 05:04 – 00:23 |
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 |
|---|---|---|
| MMarunouchi | 18 trains/hour (about one every 3.3 min) | 11 trains/hour |
Departures in one direction during the hour with the most trains at this station, counted in the operators’ timetable.
Next stations from Higashi-koenji
Scheduled running time between Higashi-koenji and the stations either side of it.
| Line | Next station | Running time |
|---|---|---|
| MMarunouchi | M03Shin-koenji | 2 min |
| MMarunouchi | M05Shin-nakano | 2 min |
Transfers and connections
Only the Marunouchi 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MMarunouchi | Yes | Yes | Not listed | 3 |
- Marunouchi Line: Step-free elevator route street-gate-platform (official “1-route by elevator”). Street elevator at exit(s): 1, 3. 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 Higashi-koenji Station?
Renkoji, about 400 m from the exits, is the temple where the ashes of Subhas Chandra Bose are kept, and it brings a steady trickle of Indian visitors to an otherwise local station. Sanshi-no-mori Park, laid out on the site of a former silk experiment station, is roughly 180 m away, and several small neighbourhood parks lie within the same walk. The station also serves the Suginami ward library, gym and community centre nearby, and the Nitobe Bunka school campus about 370 m off.
| Place | Distance (straight line) | On foot, estimated |
|---|---|---|
| Sanshinomori park 蚕糸の森公園 | 180 m | about 3 min |
| Renkoji 蓮光寺 | 400 m | about 6 min |
| 和田北公園 | 190 m | about 3 min |
| こりす公園 | 230 m | about 4 min |
| やなぎ公園 | 250 m | about 4 min |
| かえる公園 | 290 m | about 5 min |
| 田中稲荷神社 | 320 m | about 5 min |
| ゆうゆう高円寺東館 | 70 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.