Shonan Monorail SMR06:Kataseyama & SMR07:Mejiro Yamashita

The Shonan Monorail links Ofuna in the north of Kamakura to the little island of Enoshima. It opened in 1970 & was the first monorail of its kind in Japan. It’s a pretty fun way to cruise on down to Enoshima, and the stations along its route are the final components of my final daft list from Japan – for the forseeable future, at any rate.

Local Sights

These two stations aren’t exactly bursting to the seams with attractions.

You can visit Kataseyama Park which, despite the name, is actually closer to Mejiro-Yamashita station, and also is the 6th worst park to visit in Fujisawa, apparently. It’s also the only thing that the official Shonan Monorail website lists as an attraction near the place. Take from that what you will.

Kataseyama station itself does a wee bit better, as it has Fujimzaka, a hill from which you can see Mount Fuji. This is not, however, much of a reason in and of itself to visit the area, as pretty as the view can be.

All About SMR06 Kataseyama

& SMR07 Mejiro-Yamashita Stations

These two little stations are perfect for the communities they serve, and they’re also quite a cool part of the monorail route. Kataseyama is situated on top of the mountain it’s named for, making it (I think) the highest station on the route. Weirdly enough, the monorail platform is pretty close to ground level.

Mejiroyamashita is the last stop before the monorail ploughs through another mountain before popping into the first/last stop, Shonan-Enoshima.

These three stations are the newest on the line; they didn’t actually open until 1971. (The others up to Nishi-Kamakura opened in 1970.)

Other than the above view of Fuji from near Kataseyama, there’s not really much else one can say about these two stations.

There is, however, a fun little tidbit that speaks to one of the cooler things about Japanese language: having different characters represent the same sounds can bring some really funky opportunities for wordplay, as you can see below –

During the school entering examination season, the name 片瀬山駅(Kataseyama Station) changes into 勝たせ山駅 (Kataseyama Station). 勝たせ means “let me win” in Japanese.
from the SHONAN MONORAIL WEBSITE

I’m sure that’s not just some clever marketing ploy to sell more tickets at all(!)