Kokuritsu-kyogijo Station
E25 · Oedo Line · Shinjuku
Kokuritsu-kyogijo Station (国立競技場)
For eight months in 2000 this was where the Oedo Line stopped. The Shinjuku extension reached E25 on 20 April, trains reversed using an emergency crossover beyond the platform, and on 12 December the rest of the loop opened and Kokuritsu-kyogijo became an ordinary through station. The planning name had been Kokuritsu-kyogijo-mae; the “mae” was dropped before opening, although the signs still carry the secondary name Tokyo Taiikukan-mae. The station straddles the Shinjuku–Shibuya ward boundary and is the southernmost station Shinjuku ward has.
The island platform is decorated rather than plain: ten characters in Zhou-dynasty bronze script are set into the wall in tiles, paired as throw and hit, walk and run, lift and swim, jump and kick, shoot and fly, and photo panels of nearby sights line the passage from exit A1. The concourse toward the stadium gate was deliberately built wide to hold event crowds, with an outsized fare chart on the wall, and two more elevators were added between 2018 and 2020 before the Tokyo Games.
Finding Kokuritsu-kyogijo 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 Kokuritsu-kyogijo
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 Kokuritsu-kyogijo
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 |
|---|---|---|
| EOedo | 19 trains/hour (about one every 3.2 min) | 12 trains/hour |
Departures in one direction during the hour with the most trains at this station, counted in the operators’ timetable.
Next stations from Kokuritsu-kyogijo
Scheduled running time between Kokuritsu-kyogijo and the stations either side of it.
| Line | Next station | Running time |
|---|---|---|
| EOedo | E24Aoyama-itchome | 2 min |
| EOedo | E26Yoyogi | 2 min |
Transfers and connections
Only the Oedo 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| EOedo | Yes | Yes | Yes | 5 |
- Oedo Line: Toei: step-free “1-route” secured; 4 elevator(s) on this line. Elevator exit(s): A2. Operator page (checked Oct 20, 2026).
Taken from the operators’ own accessibility pages and nothing else. Toei: every station has elevators and a street-gate-platform “1-route” is secured.
What is near Kokuritsu-kyogijo Station?
Almost everything here is a venue. The Japan National Stadium is about 230 m from the exits, the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium roughly 200 m and the Meiji Jingu skating and curling rink barely 40 m; Meiji-Jingu Stadium and the Chichibunomiya rugby ground are the other fixtures the station serves, along with the Meiji Memorial Picture Gallery around 290 m away and the Sato Museum of Art about 200 m. Keio University’s Shinanomachi campus and medical school sit at the edge of that circle, 350–400 m out.
| Place | Distance (straight line) | On foot, estimated |
|---|---|---|
| Sato Museum of Art 佐藤美術館 | 200 m | about 3 min |
| MUFG Stadium MUFGスタジアム | 240 m | about 4 min |
| Meiji Memorial Picture Gallery 明治神宮聖徳記念絵画館 | 290 m | about 5 min |
| Keio University Shinanomachi Campus 慶應義塾大学 信濃町キャンパス | 350 m | about 6 min |
| Rose Garden バラ花壇 | 360 m | about 6 min |
| School of Medicine (Keio University) 慶應義塾大学(看護医療学部) | 400 m | about 6 min |
| 大番児童遊園 | 130 m | about 2 min |
| 津田塾大学千駄ヶ谷キャンパス | 360 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
That is the station’s official secondary name, referring to the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium nearby. For the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics, between 16 July and 30 September 2021, Toei temporarily added a second sub-name, Olympic Stadium / Tokyo Taiikukan, along with a special arrival melody.
Ten Chinese characters in the bronze script of the Zhou dynasty, laid in tile and grouped into five pairs with a sporting theme: throw and hit, walk and run, lift and swim, jump and kick, shoot and fly — a nod to the stadiums above.