Photo/Illutration Lucky customers enjoy food and drink at a pre-open event Aug. 30 at Sekai no Yamachan's outlet on a platform at JR Nagoya Station. (Ryuzo Nakano)

NAGOYA--A hugely popular “izakaya” Japanese-style pub chain here has taken the anxiety out of last train home syndrome ... by setting up shop on an unused platform at JR Nagoya Station, just steps away from other train lines.

Sekai no Yamachan is renowned for its fried chicken wings. The dish can be ordered separately although five chicken wings are included in an all-you-can-eat and drink package that costs 4,500 yen ($31) per person for 90 minutes.

The outlet opened on what was once the No. 1 platform at JR Nagoya Station. But it has been unused since 2019 with the start of construction work on the maglev Chuo Shinkansen Line, which will eventually connect Shinagawa Station in Tokyo with Nagoya Station in 40 minutes.

A wooden floor of about 300 square meters was built over the tracks and 80 seats arranged in the newly created space.

What was once a soba restaurant is now Sekai no Yamachan’s first beer garden-style outlet.

To match the No. 1, or Ichiban, platform, the beer served is Kirin’s Ichiban Shibori.

The outlet is open daily between 4 p.m. until 10 p.m. but only until Oct. 31.

An official with Nagoya Station Area Development Corp., the subsidiary of Central Japan Railway Co. that developed the outlet, said, “Customers can drink until just before they catch their train.”

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