Higashi-Karatsu

Known weekday departures: 2/day · Known Sat & holiday departures: 48/day

First / last known departure (weekday): 4:49 / 24:34 (00:34 next day)

Busiest hour (known departures): 0:00–1:00 (1)

0:00 ─ 23:00

Figures are the departures known from the timetable data, not a count of today's actual service.

Timetable data as of 2 May 2026 (retrieved in spring/summer 2026).

• JR Chikuhi Line: Nijinomatsubara ⇄ Watada

Higashi-Karatsu Station first opened on 15 June 1925 as a Kitakyushu Railway terminus on the east bank of the Matsuura River. After the line was extended south toward Yamamoto in 1929, trains had to switchback at the station, leaving central Karatsu — on the opposite bank — awkward to reach. The line was nationalised on 1 October 1937 and designated the Chikuhi Line. On 22 March 1983 the station was relocated about a kilometre southeast to its current site as a new through-track was built across the Matsuura River via Watada to Karatsu, the old east-bank section was abandoned, and the route was electrified. JR Kyushu took over operation in April 1987.

Travel writer Shunzō Miyawaki famously dodged Higashi-Karatsu's switchback in 1975 by riding here from Hakata, hopping off, taking a taxi straight to Nishi-Karatsu, and rejoining the Chikuhi Line at Yamamoto — a stunt he later devoted several pages to in his debut book Jikokuhyō Ni-man Kiro.