Shin-otsuka Station
M24 · Marunouchi Line · Bunkyo
Shin-otsuka Station (新大塚)
Shin-otsuka opened on 20 January 1954 with platforms 80 m long, enough for four-car trains. Six years later they were stretched: work began on 15 June 1960 and finished on 22 September, adding 40 m at the Ikebukuro end of each so that six-car trains could call. Longer trains came; a link between the two platforms did not. Until 2011 the only way from one side to the other was up to the street and across, and the passage behind the gates was finished on 31 March that year, at which point the two ticket halls were renamed North and South.
M24 is the quietest station on the Marunouchi Line outside the Honancho branch, with 26,076 passengers a day in 2025 — which sits oddly beside a 2015 ministry survey that listed the run from here to Myogadani among the most crowded stretches in Tokyo at rush hour. A streetcar stop stood on this site from 1911 to 1971.
Finding Shin-otsuka 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 Shin-otsuka
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 Shin-otsuka
| Line and direction | Weekdays first – last | Saturdays, Sundays & holidays first – last |
|---|---|---|
| MMarunouchiM24 towards Ikebukuro | 05:02 – 00:27 | 05:02 – 00:27 |
| MMarunouchiM24 towards Ogikubo | 05:03 – 00:23 to Myogadani | 05:03 – 00:23 to Myogadani |
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 | 28 trains/hour (about one every 2.1 min) | 15 trains/hour |
Departures in one direction during the hour with the most trains at this station, counted in the operators’ timetable.
Next stations from Shin-otsuka
Scheduled running time between Shin-otsuka and the stations either side of it.
| Line | Next station | Running time |
|---|---|---|
| MMarunouchi | M25Ikebukuro | 3 min |
| MMarunouchi | M23Myogadani | 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 | Yes | 2 |
- Marunouchi Line: Step-free elevator route street-gate-platform (official “1-route by elevator”). Street elevator at exit(s): 1, 2. 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 Shin-otsuka Station?
Otsuka Park, about 310 m from the exits, is the main open space and holds a ward reading room. The Shintaro Suzuki Memorial Museum is barely 50 m away, Masjid Otsuka about 340 m and the Toho Junior College of Music about 390 m. Hospitals cluster here too: Yamakawa Hospital at roughly 170 m and the metropolitan Otsuka Hospital at about 300 m. The station straddles the Bunkyo–Toshima boundary, with exit 1 on the Toshima side and exit 2 in Bunkyo.
| Place | Distance (straight line) | On foot, estimated |
|---|---|---|
| Otsuka Park 大塚公園 | 310 m | about 5 min |
| マスジド大塚 Masjid Otsuka | 340 m | about 5 min |
| Shintaro Suzuki Memorial Museum 鈴木信太郎記念館 | 50 m | about 1 min |
| Otsuka Sakashitamachi Park 大塚坂下町公園 | 260 m | about 4 min |
| 啓太朗 | 300 m | about 5 min |
| 南大塚二丁目児童遊園 | 300 m | about 5 min |
| なまず広場 | 330 m | about 5 min |
| 南大塚二丁目 ポケット児童遊園 | 340 m | about 6 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.
Frequently asked questions
They had been built for four-car trains, 80 m long, with room left in the tunnel at the Ikebukuro end for two more cars. That space was taken up between June and September 1960, when both platforms grew by 40 m, after which six-car trains could stop at the station.
Yes, but only since 2011. For fifty-seven years the two platforms had separate gates and no link behind them, so anyone who went down on the wrong side had to come back up and cross the road. The connecting passage opened on 31 March 2011 and the gates became North and South.