Yamanote Line Facts for Kids

Yamanote Line E235 series EMU

Route map

The Yamanote Line (山手線 (Yamanote-sen)) is a very important railway line in Tokyo, Japan. It's run by the East Japan Railway Company (JR East). This line is one of Tokyo's busiest and connects many major stations and city centers. These include places like Shibuya, Shinjuku, Ikebukuro, and Ueno. Almost all of its 29 stations connect to other train or subway lines.

When people say "Yamanote Line," they usually mean the whole 34.5 km (about 21.4 miles) loop. This loop is used by local trains that go around in a circle. There's also a "Yamanote Freight Line" next to it, which is used by other train lines and cargo trains. But most of the time, "Yamanote Line" means the famous circular passenger train.

History of the Yamanote Line
Cool Facts About the Yamanote Line
Yamanote Line Stations
Related pages
Images for kids
See also

History of the Yamanote Line

How the Line Started

The Yamanote Line first opened in 1909. Back then, it was called the "Shinagawa Line." It ran between Shinagawa and Akabane. Each train had 10 cars.

Becoming a Loop

The line became a full circle in 1925. This meant trains could go all the way around Tokyo. In 1925, about 5 trains ran every hour, and a full trip took 72 minutes. By 2014, trains ran 25 times an hour, and a full trip was only 60 minutes!

Changes Over Time

The trains on the Yamanote Line have changed colors a few times.

In 1961, the trains changed from brown to yellow.
In 1972, they changed again, this time to the famous green color you see today.
In 1987, the Japan Railway system became a private company, and JR East took over the Yamanote Line.
In 1990, more cars were added to the trains, making them longer.
Since 2000, you can see special advertisements wrapped around the trains.
For the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, platform screen doors were added at each station to make them safer.

Cool Facts About the Yamanote Line

How Trains Run

The Yamanote Line is quite special because it doesn't use traditional signals. Instead, each train simply follows the train in front of it. This helps keep things moving smoothly.

Trains and Crossings

The Yamanote Line carries both passenger trains (for people) and freight trains (for goods). Even though it's a very busy line, it has only one railway crossing where cars or people can cross the tracks at ground level.

How Many People Use It?

The Yamanote Line is incredibly popular. In 2013, about 3,238,000 people used the Yamanote Line every single day! That's a lot of passengers!

Yamanote Line Stations

Here is a list of the stations on the Yamanote Line. It shows how far apart they are and what other train lines you can connect to at each station.

Line¹	Station	In Japanese	Distance²		Transfers		Location
Line¹	Station	In Japanese	Distance²		JR East	Other Lines	Location
Yamanote Line	Shinagawa	品川	2.2	0.0	■Tōkaidō Main Line ■Yokosuka Line ■Keihin-Tōhoku Line (R)³	JR Central: Tōkaidō Shinkansen Keikyu: Main Line	Minato
	Ōsaki	大崎	2.0	2.0	■Shōnan-Shinjuku Line ■Saikyō Line	Rinkai Line	Shinagawa
	Gotanda	五反田	0.9	2.9		Tōkyū: Ikegami Line Toei: ○Asakusa Line (A-05)
	Meguro	目黒	1.2	4.1		Tōkyū: Meguro Line Tokyo Metro: ○Namboku Line (N-01) Toei: ○Mita Line (I-01)
	Ebisu	恵比寿	1.5	5.6	■Shōnan-Shinjuku Line ■Saikyō Line	Tokyo Metro: ○Hibiya Line (H-02)	Shibuya
	Shibuya	渋谷	1.6	7.2	■Shōnan-Shinjuku Line ■Saikyō Line	Keio: Inokashira Line Tōkyū: Den-en-toshi Line, Tōyoko Line Tokyo Metro: ○Ginza Line (G-01), ○Hanzōmon Line (N-01), ○Fukutoshin Line (F-16)
	Harajuku	原宿	1.2	8.4		Tokyo Metro: ○Chiyoda Line (at Meiji-jingūmae, C-03)
	Yoyogi	代々木	1.5	9.9	■Chūō-Sōbu Line	Toei: ○Ōedo Line (E-26)
	Shinjuku	新宿	0.7	10.6	■Chūō Main Line ■Chūō Line (Rapid) ■Chūō-Sōbu Line ■Shōnan-Shinjuku Line ■Saikyō Line	Keio: Keiō Line, Keio New Line Odakyu: Odawara Line Seibu: Shinjuku Line (at Seibu-Shinjuku) Tokyo Metro: ○Marunouchi Line (M-08) Toei: ○Shinjuku Line (S-01), ○Ōedo Line (at Shinjuku (E-27) and Shinjuku-Nishiguchi (E-01))	Shinjuku
	Shin-Ōkubo	新大久保	1.3	11.9
	Takadanobaba	高田馬場	1.4	13.3		Seibu: Shinjuku Line Tokyo Metro: ○Tōzai Line (T-03)
	Mejiro	目白	0.9	14.2			Toshima
	Ikebukuro	池袋	1.2	15.4	■Shōnan-Shinjuku Line ■Saikyō Line	Seibu: Ikebukuro Line Tobu: Tōjō Line Tokyo Metro: ○Marunouchi Line (M-25), ○Yūrakuchō Line (Y-09), ○Fukutoshin Line (F-09)
	Ōtsuka	大塚	1.8	17.2		Toden Arakawa Line at Ōtsuka Ekimae Station
	Sugamo	巣鴨	1.1	18.3		Toei: ○Mita Line (I-15)
	Komagome	駒込	0.7	19.0		Tokyo Metro: ○Namboku Line (N-14)
	Tabata	田端	1.6	20.6	■Keihin-Tōhoku Line (R)		Kita
Tōhoku Main Line	Tabata		1.6	20.6	■Keihin-Tōhoku Line (R)		Kita
	Nishi-Nippori	西日暮里	0.8	21.4	■Keihin-Tōhoku Line	Tokyo Metro: ○Chiyoda Line (C-16) Nippori-Toneri Liner	Arakawa
	Nippori	日暮里	0.5	21.9	■Jōban Line ■Keihin-Tōhoku Line	Keisei: Main Line Nippori-Toneri Liner	Arakawa
	Uguisudani	鶯谷	1.1	23.0	■Keihin-Tōhoku Line		Taitō
	Ueno	上野	1.1	24.1	■Shinkansen (Tōhoku, Jōetsu, Nagano, Yamagata, Akita) ■Jōban Line ■Keihin-Tōhoku Line (R) ■Utsunomiya Line ■Takasaki Line	Keisei: Main Line (at Keisei Ueno) Tokyo Metro: ○Ginza Line (G-16), ○Hibiya Line (H-17)
	Okachimachi	御徒町	0.6	24.7	■Keihin-Tōhoku Line
	Akihabara	秋葉原	1.0	25.7	■Chūō-Sōbu Line ■Keihin-Tōhoku Line (R)	Tsukuba Express Tokyo Metro: ○Hibiya Line (H-15)	Chiyoda
	Kanda	神田	0.7	26.4	■Chūō Line (Rapid) ■Keihin-Tōhoku Line	Tokyo Metro: ○Ginza Line (G-13)
	Tokyo	東京	1.3	27.7	■Shinkansen (Tōhoku, Jōetsu, Hokuriku, HokkaidōYamagata, Akita) ■Keihin-Tōhoku Line (R) ■Tōkaidō Main Line ■Chūō Line (Rapid) ■Yokosuka Line ■Keiyō Line ■Sōbu Line (Rapid)	JR Central: Tōkaidō Shinkansen Tokyo Metro: ○Marunouchi Line (M-17)
Tōkaidō Main Line	Tokyo		1.3	27.7
	Yūrakuchō	有楽町	0.8	28.5	■Keihin-Tōhoku Line	Tokyo Metro: ○Yūrakuchō Line (Y-18), ○Hibiya Line (at Hibiya, H-07), ○Chiyoda Line (at Hibiya, C-09) Toei: ○Mita Line (at Hibiya, C-09)
	Shimbashi	新橋	1.1	29.6	■Tōkaidō Main Line ■Yokosuka Line ■Keihin-Tōhoku Line	Tokyo Metro: ○Ginza Line (G-08) Toei: ○Asakusa Line (A-10) Yurikamome	Minato
	Hamamatsuchō	浜松町	1.2	30.8	■Keihin-Tōhoku Line (R)	Tokyo Monorail Toei: ○Asakusa Line (at Daimon, A-09), ○Ōedo Line (at Daimon, E-20)
	Tamachi	田町	1.5	32.3	■Keihin-Tōhoku Line (R)
	Shinagawa	品川	2.2	34.5	See above.

Notes

1: Official line names

2: The left number is the distance from the station before it (in kilometers). The right number is the total distance from Shinagawa Station (in kilometers).

3: "(R)" means that the rapid trains on the Keihin-Tōhoku Line stop here.