I saw figures coming down the stairs leading from the platform to the ticket gate

If you take the Keikyu Line from Shinagawa to Yokohama, the next stop on the express train is Aomono-Yokocho Station. Although it doesn't have much presence among the stations on the Keikyu Line, its name is unique. Personally, I think it is as unique as Umeyashiki Station. It is, after all, Yokocho which means a side street. It is a station for a train running on steel rails, but it is a side street. It's not a big station, but it's not so simple as a side street. I'm sure I'm not the only one who thinks that the name and the actual situation are divergent.

In addition, there is no such place as Aomono-Yokocho in the vicinity of the station. Aomono-yokocho is not a place name, but a common name. In the Edo period (1603-1868), there used to be a market around Aomono-Yokocho Station where people sold green groceries. Aomono means vegetables and wild plants. In other words, there was a side street lined with grocery stores, and the street was called Aomono-Yokocho.

It seems that Aomono-Yokocho was a very busy place where farmers brought vegetables harvested in Shinagawa, Oi, Omori, and Kamata by themselves and did business. Nowadays, there are no vestiges of Aomono-Yokocho, which gave the station its name. Instead, the large supermarket in front of the station was very crowded.