[1] Minami-Otaru Station is served by the Hakodate Main Line.

[2] The station has automated ticket machines, automated turnstiles which accept Kitaca,[3] and a "Midori no Madoguchi" staffed ticket office.

As one of the intermediate station on the Horonai Railway, Kaiunchō Station (開運町駅) opened on November 11, 1880 provisionally and on November 28 formally.

The present name Minami-Otaru was given on July 15, 1920 when the former Chūō Otaru Station, located closer to the city center, became Otaru Station.

After the nationalization of the two companies in 1906 and 1907, the trunk line connecting Hakodate and Sapporo via Otaru was named the Hakodate Main Line and its branch between Minami-Otaru (then called Otaru) and Temiya was named the Temiya Line.