Where the name Shimbashi comes from, what stood here before the station, and what you can still spot on a walk today. Then the events near the station that we have checked on the official pages.
Leave Shimbashi Station through the Ginza Exit and walk north along Chūō-dori towards Ginza 8-chome. Where an elevated expressway crosses the road, look for an old stone bridgepost standing beside the pavement. It is a surviving piece of the bridge that gave Shimbashi its name. A river called the Shiodome River once flowed beneath this spot, and travellers on the Tōkaidō highway crossed it on their way into and out of Edo. The bridge is thought to have been built around 1604, when the highway was extended north to Nihonbashi.
Why was it called the 'new bridge'? The exact reason remains uncertain. One explanation links the name to the newly extended highway; another suggests that it distinguished the crossing from older nearby bridges. In 1710, the authorities built the Shibaguchi Gate just north of the crossing, and the bridge was renamed Shibaguchi Bridge. Local people nevertheless continued to use the older name.
The name Shimbashi was officially restored in the Meiji period. In 1872, Japan's first railway terminal opened a short distance east, at Shiodome, and inherited the name. During road construction before the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, much of the Shiodome River was filled in and the bridge disappeared. The stone post is a rare visible reminder that this famous station was named after a crossing that no longer exists.
→ Walk north from the Ginza Exit to Ginza-Shimbashi Mini Park beneath the elevated expressway. A surviving stone bridgepost, designated a cultural property by Minato Ward, stands beside an explanatory marker with English text. It identifies the former crossing and the buried Shiodome River.
Sources (in Japanese): 港区「地名の歴史（芝地区）・新橋」, 港区「写真今昔物語 第40話・新橋の親柱」, 港区「港区橋物語・新橋」
Leave Shimbashi Station through the Shiodome Exit and walk east into the modern business district. Among the glass towers stands a small Western-style station building. It reconstructs the appearance of Japan's first railway terminal, which opened in 1872 when trains began running between Shimbashi and Yokohama. The original station stood approximately 350 metres east of today's JR station. Before the railway arrived, this area had been reclaimed from the waterfront and contained residences belonging to powerful feudal families, including the Matsudaira of Aizu and the Date of Sendai.
Beside the reconstructed station, look for the Zero Mile Marker. Railway survey work began from this location in 1870. The tracks headed south across low coastal ground, with part of the route carried on an embankment built through shallow seawater. In 1914, the opening of Tokyo Station changed the railway network. The original Shimbashi terminal became a freight station called Shiodome, while the nearby station originally known as Karasumori took over the name Shimbashi.
Shiodome Freight Station continued handling goods until its closure in 1986. The former railway yards were subsequently redeveloped into the office towers seen today. Inside the reconstructed station, a glass floor reveals excavated foundation stones. Return west towards the station's shopping streets and you encounter another history, shaped by the black markets that appeared after the Second World War.
→ Walk east from the Shiodome Exit to the reconstructed Old Shimbashi Station. Its Railway History Exhibition Hall displays original foundation remains beneath a glass floor, while the Zero Mile Marker stands outside. On the opposite side of JR Shimbashi Station, a steam locomotive commemorates the railway's centenary.
Sources (in Japanese): 港区「鉄道開業150年 港区と鉄道の夜明け」, 港区デジタル版『港区のあゆみ』「東新橋（一〜二丁目）」, JR東日本「旧新橋停車場復元駅舎・汐留地区の経緯」, 物流博物館「世界貿易センタービルと旧国鉄・汐留貨物駅」
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We list events we could confirm on the official page or official Instagram of the venue or organiser. Details can change, tickets sell out and venues close, so check the official page before you go. Distances are straight-line and travel times are rough estimates. Photos show the venue or its surroundings, not the event itself. Titles and descriptions are our own translations from Japanese. This site contains affiliate links (ads).