Ikebukuro Station 5.17

is a major railway station located in the Ikebukuro district of Toshima, Tokyo, Japan, shared by East Japan Railway Company (JR East), Tokyo subway operator Tokyo Metro, and the two private railway operators Seibu Railway and Tobu Railway. With 2.71 million passengers on an average daily in 2007, it is the second-busiest railway station in the world (after Shinjuku Station), and the busiest station in the Tobu, Seibu, and Tokyo Metro networks. It primarily serves commuters from Saitama Prefecture and other residential areas northwest of the city centre. It is the Tokyo terminal of the Seibu Ikebukuro Line and the Tobu Tojo Line.Station layoutIkebukuro Station has two main entrances, the East exit and the West exit. There are a number of other secondary entrances such as the JR North exit, the various Seibu exits, and multiple subway exits.The JR lines run north/south through the center. The Tobu platforms are to the northwest and the Seibu platforms are to the southeast. Both Tobu and Seibu operate department stores adjacent to their terminal stations. (Despite their names, "Seibu" (西武) starts with the kanji for "west" (西), but its platforms are in the eastern part of the station, while "Tōbu" (東武) starts with the character for "east" (東), but its platforms are in the western part of the station.)