Three Japanese Train Station Names That Even Native Speakers Find Hard

[ad_1]

Traveling to Japan? Get some Japanese under your belt today with Rocket Languages Japanese! Use code UNSEEN60 for $60 or more off your purchase! (affiliate link)

That leads to some interesting place names that aren’t obvious at first glance. An example from Okinawa would be 勢理客, which looks like it’d be pronounced something like seirikyaku (せいりきゃく) but is pronounced jicchaku (じっちゃく). An example from Hokkaido is 留萌市 (rumoi-shi), derived from the Ainu word rurumoppe.

The top three vexing station names

So it is that the evolution of Japanese over centuries leads to some…interesting names that sometimes even leave native speakers scratching their heads.

Last year, the site Seikatsu Guide (Lifestyle Guide) asked its own employees whether they could name some of the trickier station names that exist in East Japan. They reported their results along with a tabulation of how many people could pronounce them correctly.

The site also broke down the pronunciation difficulties by age and gender. In general, women got the readings right more often than men, proving once again that women are indeed the superior gender. In terms of age, people in their 40s and 50s tended to have the most difficulties pronouncing these puzzlers. (Joking aside, both stats may simply reflect the prevalence of middle-aged men in Seikatsu Guide’s office makeup.)

Here are the top three brain-breakers, along with employee’s answer rates plus some details from Seikatsu Guide about each station stop’s local charms.

Number 3: 及位駅

Answer Rate: 20.4%

You’ll need to rise the Ouuhonsen out through Mamurogawa in Yamagata Prefecture to find Nozoki Station.

Where does the town name come from? No one really knows. The most compelling answer is that it comes from an ascetic practice at a nearby mountain temple of meditating while staring into (覗き込む; nozokikomu) the cliff precipices.

Number 2: 打保駅

Answer Rate: 19.8%

Next up on the list is a stop on the Takayamahonsen out near Hida in Gifu Prefecture: Utsubo Station. This is likely the only station name you’d be most likely to figure out yourself, although I surmise most people would guess “Uchibo” first.

Utsobo is one of Japan’s 2,190 or so fully unmanned stations. The station is known primarily for its rounded dome-top roof and the snow shelter covering its rail switch.

Number 1: 飯給駅

Answer Rate: 18.7%

Number 1 on the list takes us to Chiba Prefecture and the city of Ishihara. Itabu Station, served by the Kominato Rail Company, reputedly gets its name from when locals offered (給) food (飯) to the troops of the legendary Prince Yamatokakeru as they passed by on their way to subjugate the non-Yamato people of Japan.

The big attraction at Itabu Station? A toilet. Artist Fujimoto Sosuke’s “glass toilet”, officially called “Toilet in Nature”, sits at the end of a little walkway on the station’s grounds. Good news? It apparently has curtains for privacy. Bad news? It’s a women-only outhouse. (Sorry, guys.)