Take me out to the ballpark!
How to get to Koshien Stadium by train

Maido! Osaka Bob here.
Have you ever been to Koshien Stadium? It is, of course, the home stadium for the Hanshin Tigers. It’s also the field where Japan’s biggest high school baseball tournaments are held and it moonlights as a concert venue.
There are lots of reasons to go, but how do you get there? Well, it’s a little bit tricky, but I have a few recommendations on the best routes from Osaka.

■What is Koshien Stadium? How did it get its name?

Before we get into the transportation details, first let’s take a look at Koshien Stadium, what it is and some of the history behind the ballpark.
Koshien for short, this baseball field opened in 1924 so it is getting ready to turn 100!

The origin story goes that the Toyonaka Field and the Naruo Field, where the national junior high school baseball tournament (now the National High School Baseball Championship) used to be held, had grown too small. High school baseball was so popular at the time that the existing fields couldn’t hold all the spectators.
Koshien was completed in 1924. On the Chinese zodiac, this year is considered extremely auspicious. It is the first year of the 60-year sexagenary cycle denoted with the characters 甲子 (Wood Rat), pronounced Koshi in Japanese. Throw on an 園 for park and you get 甲子園/Wood Rat Park/Koshien.
Real fans may be interested to know that you can still visit the site of the old Toyonaka Field. There is now a memorial park, which features the brick walls and pillar from the original baseball field.

Koshien has become somewhat of a holy ground for high school baseball players and its the home field for the Hanshin Tigers making it the most well-known stadium in Japan.
The stadium also hosts Koshien Bowl the Japanese American college football national championship game, where Japanese university teams compete to see who is the best in that all-American sport.
The most bizarre event ever held here has to be the National Ski Jump Tournament.

■ The Hanshin Station is close, but JR is a trek

Koshien Stadium is located in the city of Nishinomiya, in Hyogo Prefecture, which is right between Osaka and Kobe. The location is so convenient, it is a popular place to live.
The nearest station is Koshien Station on the Hanshin Railway. The Direct Limited Express (Chokutsū Tokkyū), Hanshin Limited Express (Hanshin Tokkyū), Regional Limited Express (Kukan Tokkyū), Express (Kyūkō), Regional Express (Kukan Kyūkō), Local (Futsū) Hanshin trains all stop at Koshien Station. The only trains that don’t stop are a limited number of the Direct Limited Express (Chokutsū Tokkyū) trains and the Regional Express (Kukan Kyūkō) from Osaka-Umeda Station.

This is the view from the station. Koshien is just on the other side of that expressway.

It can get pretty crowded when there is a Tigers game or during the high school tournament, but its an easy walk.
The one thing you don’t want to do is go to JR Kōshienguchi Station. It’s really far from the stadium!

You’d think its close because the station has Koshien in the name, but it’s actually 2.5 km from the baseball stadium. That would take about 30 minutes to walk.

Apparently people get off at this station and ask where the stadium is all too frequently. So be careful this doesn’t happen to you!
And to put in a word for JR, it’s not that they were trying to trick people when they named their station. When the stadium was constructed, city planners took inspiration when they named the surrounding neighborhoods.

■Getting there from Kobe

Coming from the West, say Kyushu or Hiroshima, you’d want to take the Shinkansen and get off at Shin-Kōbe Station. There is one thing you need to be careful of when you’re traveling from Kobe—that’s making sure you get on the Hanshin Railway.

Three different rail companies connect Kobe and Osaka—JR, Hankyu, and Hanshin. But the only one that passes directly in front of Koshien Stadium is the Hanshin. However, they all meet at Sannomiya Station (the main station in Kobe), so it’s easy to make a mistake. Don’t get on the wrong train-line.

【From Kobe】

Hanshin Railway: Sannomiya Station → Koshien Station

Train fare: ¥270

Time onboard: Approx. 18 min.

■Getting there from Osaka, departing from Umeda

There are many ways to get to Koshien from Osaka, but no matter how you go, you need to take the Hanshin. The first route I’ll show you starts at Osaka-Umeda Station. This is the most direct route, but depending on where you are in the city, you might want to take a different route.

Umeda is big and there are many different stations here too. The JR station (Ōsaka Station), the Hankyu station (Osaka-Umeda Station), the Osaka Metro stations (Umeda Station), (Higashi-Umeda Station), and (Nishi-Umeda Station). This is the largest terminal in West Japan. A lot of passengers transfer to the Hanshin Railway here.
If you’re coming from Kyoto, you would get off at JR Osaka Station to transfer to the Hanshin Railway Osaka-Umeda Station.
If you’re on the Shinkansen, you would get off at Shin-Ōsaka Station and take the JR to Ōsaka Station or take the Osaka Metro to Umeda Station, before transferring to the Hanshin Railway Osaka-Umeda Station.

【From Kobe】

Hanshin Railway: Osaka-Umeda Station → Koshien Station

Train fare: ¥270

Time onboard: Approx. 12 min.

■Getting there from Osaka, departing from Namba

The second route from Osaka would be convenient if you are in the Minami District, so that means Dotonbori, Namba, Shinsaibashi, etc.
Osaka Namba Station is where the Hanshin meets Kintetsu Railway. These two railways connect and share the same tracks and carriages so you can take a Kintetsu train straight through Osaka Namba Station all the way to Koshien.

If you’re coming from Nara, this is the easiest way to get to Koshien. It’s a straight shot.

There are lots of stations nearby that would be easy to transfer from. Osaka Metro Namba Station and Osaka Metro, Shinsaibashi Stations, Nankai Namba Station, and JR Namba Station are all within walking distance. So for example, if you are coming from somewhere in the south, like Kansai International Airport, then you would take the Nankai train to Namba Station and transfer to the Hanshin. Easy peasy!

Pictured here is the Osaka Metro Namba Station. There are many signboards within the station that show how to get to the Hanshin line. It’s a pretty smooth transfer.

【From Kobe】

Hanshin Railway: Osaka-Namba Station → Koshien Station

Train fare: ¥360

Time onboard: Approx. 25 min.

■Getting there from Osaka, changing trains in Nishi-Kujo

There is one other route from Osaka that deserves an explanation, the route from Nishi-Kujo Station. This is where you would transfer from the JR Osaka Loop Line to the Hanshin Railway.

You can actually see Hanshin Nishi-Kujo Station from the platform of JR Nishi-Kujo Station. This station on the JR Osaka Loop Line connects a big portion of the city, making stops at Tennoji, Shin-Imamiya, Tsuruhashi, Kyobashi, etc. If you’re on the Loop Line, just head over to Nishi-Kujo and jump on the Hanshin train towards Koshien!

【From Nishi-Kujo】

Hanshin Railway: Nishi-Kujo Station → Koshien Station

Train fare: ¥240

Time onboard: Approx. 15 min.

Does that make sense? There are so many trains in Osaka, that it should be easy to get to Koshien no matter where you start.

For example, if you are coming from Tennoji you could take the JR Osaka Loop Line to Nishi-Kujo and get on the Hanshin there, or you could take the Osaka Metro to Namba Station and change to the Hanshin there. Either way, it’s easy!
So, that’s it. That’s how you get to Koshien.
If you have any other suggestions for getting to the ballpark, I would love to hear from you. Enjoy the game!