Matō Station

Matō Station is a small stop on the Watarase Keikoku Tetsudō line in Tochigi Prefecture, Honshū, near the city of Nikkō. Opened in 1914 during the Taishō era, it originally served as a link to the nearby Ashio copper mine — a site notorious for one of Japan's first major industrial pollution scandals in the late 19th century. Today the station is served by the scenic Watarase Valley Railway, used mainly by visitors exploring the forested Watarase gorge.