Mark Does Japan: Eki Stamps

3 January 2026 Filed in: Travel

If you are travelling on trains in Japan then collecting eki (station) stamps can give you a fun reminder of the trip. Finding the stamp location can be a challenge in some stations, especially if there are crowds and you are in a hurry, and sometimes the ink needs some TLC too but that’s also part of the challenge. Mostly the stamps are near the ticket office but sometimes they are “hidden” inside the gates so you need to scan for them before going through the gates in both directions. Some tourist attractions also have them, and gardens seem to have a trail of them.
In Japan you can buy eki stamp books to stamp but I made my own, Vistaprint can make a notebook with unlined pages.

Initially I was going to try to add the stamps for each single journey on the one page but that seemed over the top when my first day on the rails was a trip from Asahikawa to Cape Soya and back so just the day’s stamps were sufficient. Then I was concerned about the quality of the stamp, should I do a test stamp to check the ink? I decided that what the ink produced was enough (there was a story in the sad ink pads too). It would have been good to collect more but some stations didn’t have them (I asked in a couple of staffed stations where the staff weren’t busy) and in others (Hello Tokyo) I just couldn’t find it. Here is a scan of my collection:

Asahikawa and Wakkanai

Asahikawa and Sapporo

Sapporo Tourist Information Office

I couldn’t find the stamp in the Sapporo station so I asked at the Tourist Information Centre in the station and they told me it was inside the gates in the middle of the station (unlike Asihakawa where it was outside next to a column near the gates) but they had some too so these are theirs.

Sapporo and Otaru

Otaru and Kutchan

More Kutchan

Otaru and Hakodate

Goryokaku Tower and Hakodate

Kikonai

Hirosaki Castle, Hirosaki and the Apple Orchard Railway

Hirosaki

Hirosaki and Shin-Aomori

Aomori

Hachinohe

Nagano and Matsumoto

Itoigawa

Unazuki Onsen, Nekomata, Ishikawa Railway, Kanazawa

Kanazawa

Himeji

Naoshima

Ritsurin Park

Takamatsu

Okayama Korakuen

Hiroshima

Miyajima Aquajet

Iwakuni, Iwakuni Castle

Nishikigawa Seiryū Line

Nagasaki

Kagoshima, Sakurajim IVECC and Sakurajima Ferry

Shonan Monorail

Fujisawa

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Mark Does Japan: The Trains and Trams

2 January 2026 Filed in: Travel

Following the lead of John Walton with #JohnDoesJapan I compiled a list of the different trains/trams/etc that I took on my trip and updated a thread on Bluesky #MarkDoesJapan with them. I could just point you at the thread but a more permanent solution is to document it here, plus I’ve fixed some errors. I’m still missing a number of Tokyo Metro lines and their equipment since I was more concerned with getting on the train than taking pictures of it, lines include at least Saikyo, Chiyoda, and Tozai.