Okutsugaru-Imabetsu Station
railway station in Imabetsu, Aomori Prefecture, Japan
Okutsugaru-Imabetsu Station (Japanese: 奥津軽いまべつ駅, Hepburn: Okutsugaru-Imabetsu-eki) is a railway station on the Hokkaido Shinkansen in the town of Imabetsu in Aomori Prefecture, on the island of Honshu, Japan. It is operated by Hokkaido Railway Company (JR Hokkaido), and is the last stop in Honshu before the Seikan Tunnel to Hokkaido.
Lines
Okutsugaru-Imabetsu Station is served by the Hokkaido Shinkansen between Tokyo or Shin-Aomori and Shin-Hakodate-Hokuto. It used to be served by the Kaikyō Line between Aomori and Hakodate prior to the opening of the Hokkaido Shinkansen. After the beginning of the bullet train services, the Kaikyō Line is normally only used by freight trains.
Station layout
Before the Hokkaido Shinkansen stations were made, Tsugaru-Imabetsu Station had two opposed side platforms serving two tracks. There was no station building, but only a small weather shelter on the platform. The station was unattended.
Although the station is in the middle of the 82 km (51 mi) section shared by the standard-gauge Hokkaido Shinkansen and the-narrow gauge Kaikyō Line, narrow gauge trains use separate tracks (two each) on the both sides of the Shinkansen station so that only bullet trains pass through the passenger platforms.
Okutsugaru-Imabetsu is one of very few stations which is only served by Shinkansen trains, although it is physically connected to Tsugaru-Futamata Station on the JR East Tsugaru Line by an underground passage.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Okutsugaru-Imabetsu Station” is railway station in Imabetsu, Aomori Prefecture, Japan. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Okutsugaru-Imabetsu, Station and railway, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “railway station in Imabetsu, Aomori Prefecture, Japan” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
The strongest evidence will usually combine a dated visual record with documents produced by the authority responsible for the place. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 18, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q4546298. Authority coordinates are 41.145, 140.515. 2 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank.
A single description cannot reconcile every naming convention, rebuilding phase or administrative transfer associated with a place. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Okutsugaru-Imabetsu Station”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Okutsugaru-Imabetsu Station primary sources, Okutsugaru-Imabetsu Station archive and Okutsugaru-Imabetsu research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Okutsugaru-Imabetsu Station”?
- Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
- What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Okutsugaru-Imabetsu Station” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.