The new building for Harajuku Station on Tokyo’s busy Yamanote loop line opened Saturday in the capital’s pop-culture hub, with many visitors sporting face masks amid a coronavirus pandemic gripping the world.

The new station building, located south of the original wooden one, is a two-story structure that straddles the train tracks and has exits facing the sedate precincts of Meiji Jingu shrine and the upscale Omotesando avenue.

Glass walls for the concourse allow for plenty of sunlight and give the building a bright, modern feel. The interior features tiled floors, and a clear view of the old station and the tracks.

A NewDays convenience store on the first floor, and a Sarutahiko Coffee cafe on the second floor, also commenced business with the new station’s opening.

“I think it’s nice,” said Unjiro Hatano, 82, who had just exited the ticket gates with his 80-year-old wife Rieko.

Living in nearby Yoyogi, the elderly couple walk pass the station every day, Rieko said. “Each time I wondered when it would be completed,” she said, adding that she was glad that the nostalgic old station would retain its form even when “remade.”

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East Japan Railway Co. began construction on the new station building in September 2016.

The old Western-style wooden station building, which was constructed nearly 100 years ago, will be…