Saiin Station

Saiin Station 西院駅
Location
Prefecture	Kyoto (See other stations in Kyoto)
City	Kyoto
Ward	Ukyō
History
Year opened	1928
Former name	Kyoto Saiin Station
Present name since	1931
Rail services
Operator(s)	Hankyu Corporation
Line(s)	Hankyū Kyoto Main Line
Statistics	7,935,000 passengers/year

Hankyu Saiin Station (西院駅, Saiin-eki) is the 22nd station along the Hankyu Railway Kyoto Line, which departs from Osaka's Umeda Station and terminates at Kyoto's Kawaramachi Station. It is the 4th to last station before reaching Kawaramachi station.

Saiin Station is serviced by local (普通, futsū), semi express (準急, junkyū), rapid express (快速急行, kaisoku kyūkō), and "commuter" limited express (通勤特急, tsūkin tokkyū) trains, while limited express (特急, tokkyū) trains do not service the station. The subterranean station is windy, as it has only one entrance, and arriving and departing trains force air up and down the station's narrow pair of staircases.

Many travellers stop at Saiin Station in order to take a the #205 city bus to Kinkakuji and Sai Station (Keifuku Electric Railroad Co., Ltd., written in the same kanji, 西院駅) local train to Arashiyama.

Hankyu Saiin Station Entrance

Location

Saiin station's singular entrance is situated on the southwest corner of Shijo street and Nishioji street in Kyoto, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan. Saiin Station is located in Saiin Kōzanji-chō, Ukyō-ku, Kyoto.

History

Saiin Station opened as Kyoto Saiin Station (京都西院駅, Kyōto-Saiin-eki) on November 1, 1928. At the time of opening, the station was the terminus of the Shinkeihan Railway, a former operator of the Hankyu Kyoto Line. On March 31, 1931 when the underground extension from Saiin to Keihan Kyoto Station (present-day Ōmiya Station) was completed, the station was moved from the ground level to the underground facilities and renamed Saiin Station.

At the time of the construction, a plan was tabled to link Saiin Station with the smaller and older Sai Station (located 1 minutes walking distance east on Shijo street) by means of an underground path, but the plan was eventually scrapped, due to strong opposition from people living in the area.

Mister Donut beside Saiin Station

Attractions

Dining

A variety of quaint restaurants, izakaya, and fast food locations lie within short walking distance of the station. These Fast Food locations include: McDonalds, Mos Burger, Baskin Robbins 31, Matsuya and Yoshinoya.

Retail

A few large retail outlets and a variety of small shops line the streets surrounding Saiin Station. These large retail outlets include: Diamond City Hana, and Joshin Electronics. A 100 yen shuttle bus stops in front of Saiin Station and carries passengers directly to the Diamond City Hana shopping center.

A Watts 100 yen store is located directly above Saiin station's entrance.

Convenience Stores

There are many convenience stores within a 2 or 3 minute walk of Saiin Station. The most popular include Lawson (2), 7 Eleven (1), Circle K (2), and Family Mart. They primarily sell food and other daily necessities. This includes a large range of meals, snacks and sweets, such as onigiri (rice balls), sandwiches, bread, chips, candy, obento (lunch boxes), instant ramen, microwave meals and hot foods like fried chicken, nikuman and oden. Some cold foods, such as onigiri, can be heated up by the store staff. Many kinds of hot and cold beverages including soda, coffee, tea, water, sport drinks, juice, milk and vitamin drinks are also available. The selection changes frequently and often varies by season as well. Many convenience stores also sell alcoholic beverages including beer, happoshu, chuhai, nihonshu, shochu and wine. Other goods available include body care products, cosmetics, batteries, blank CDs and tapes, umbrellas, newspapers, magazines and comics. Some stores, particularly outside of the city centers, have a toilet. Many automated services are also offered, and can be accessed through multi-purpose terminals. (The user menu is usually in Japanese only.) There is ATM service, Copier/Fax machines, ticket reservations kiosks (tickets for sporting events, concerts, theme parks, highway buses, etc.), digital camera print machines, bill payment, and even delivery services are widely available.

Hotels

In addition, the Rhino hotel is located directly beside Saiin Station.

Historical sites

Kozaiji Temple A small, but beautiful temple is located directly across from Saiin Station, on the north east corner of Nishioji street and Shijo Street, less than 1 minutes walking distance.

Sai Station, a smaller older station (constructed in 1910) on the Keifuku Electric Railroad Co. Arashiyama Line uses romantic old-fashioned trains to shuttle tourists to Arashiyama, a desirable locale with beautiful mountain paths and scenic vistas. The local suttle trains are renowned for their spring time Cherry Blossom viewing tours.

Gaming

Several Pachinko Parlors (a form of legally tolerated gambling establishment) are located within walking distance of Saiin Station.

Adjacent stations

«		Service	»
Hankyu Railway Kyoto Line
Nishi-Kyōgoku		Local		Ōmiya
Nishi-Kyōgoku		Semi-Express		Ōmiya
Katsura		Rapid Service		Ōmiya
Katsura		Rapid Express		Ōmiya
Limited Express: no stop
Katsura		Commutation Limited Express		Ōmiya
Sightseeing Limited Express (weekends, holidays): no stop
Extra Limited Express (Kawaramachi-Arashiyama): no stop