Hamamatsu

Act City

Hamamatsu's only skyscraper is a symbol of the city, designed to resemble a harmonica, a reminder that Hamamatsu is sometimes known as the "City of Music". The building houses shopping and a food court, the Okura Hotel, and an observatory on the 45th floor from which you can see all of central Hamamatsu. The basement floor holds two theaters at which there are frequent concerts, musicals, plays, and seminars. On the west side there is a unique rooftop park complex, and on the north there is an outdoor "Sunken Garden" used at festival times for food stalls and cultural performances.

Aeon Hamamatsu-nishi

イオン浜松西店

Smallest yet closer to downtown, this location is bit more like a large department store.

Aeon Mall Hamamatsu Ichino

イオンモール浜松市野

The largest shopping mall in the area. A free shuttle bus runs to the mall from Kamijima and Saginomiya stations on the Akaden line.

Akiba Fire Festival

秋葉山火祭り, Akiba-san Hi-matsuri

Celebrating the supposed fire-prevention powers of Mt. Akiba, this festival is held at Akiba Temple and Shrine atop the famous mountain, with fire-walking, fire dances, and various weapon dances.

December 15

Akino Fuku Art Museum

秋野不矩美術館

This museum is housed in an interesting building made mostly from local cedar and other products. The permanent collection has many pieces by the late artist Akino Fuku, as well as other pieces.

Tue-Sun 09:30-17:00·Adults ¥300, students ¥150

Ani&Ivan

Satisfying yet cheap Indonesian food, including Halal. The ¥1000 set is a surprisingly good deal for a lunch set—try the Gurame. Indonesian, Japanese, and limited English is spoken.

¥700-1000

Arisan

阿里山

Taiwanese restaurant with a fairly wide selection of tasty dishes with good portion sizes for the price.

Closed · opens 11:30 am

Bar Mar Espana

バルマル

Spanish tapas bar with a decent wine selection. Mostly Japanese clientèle.

Closed · opens 5 pm

Bentenjima Kaihin Park

弁天島海浜公園, Bentenjima Kaihin Kōen

This beautiful spot has a beach and boardwalk, with a lovely view of a torii perched on an island in the middle of the bay. The fireworks display in late June is extremely popular, bringing in dozens of food stalls, and thousands of people.

Chez Moriya

Chez Moriya features a chef who has worked in several top restaurants in Europe (including Belgian Comme Chez Soi" and Paris L'Arpege). The chef who is by the way very friendly, speaks French plus English.

Closed · opens 11:30 am·Dinner courses ¥4000-5000

Choraku-ji Temple

長楽寺

This temple, built at the start of the Heian era, has a charming garden with plum trees, and is especially beautiful with the change of the leaves in the fall.

¥300, children free

Choupana

ショウパーナ

Popular Brazilian all-you-can-eat rodizio with salad bar, rice and beans, salgados, feijoada and a wide selection of cuts served tableside, including various beef cuts, chicken, chicken hearts, lamb, and pork.

Mon-Fri 18:00-00:00, Sat Sun 12:00-00:00·¥2000-3000

Daifuku-ji Temple

大福寺

Mountain temple overlooking the small Inohana lake. Check out the Deva statues at the gate. This is an excellent place if you're in town during cherry blossom time, and if you miss it, check out the Hantoshi-zakura cherry blossoms which are in bloom from mid-autumn to early spring.

¥500, children free

Entetsu Beer Garden

A fairly standard Japanese-style beer garden: mediocre food, cold beer, fresh air. June through the end of August.

Entetsu Department Store

遠鉄百貨店

High quality clothing and other items. The basement contains a wonderful grocery and deli.

Futamata Castle Ruins

二俣城跡, Futamata-jouseki

Many battles were fought over this castle in the mid-16th century between Ieyasu Tokugawa and Shingen Takeda. In 1579, Tokugawa's wife was executed here and his son committed seppuku here as well. The castle was abandoned after 1600, and today nothing but the walls remain, surrounded by a beautiful park.

Garuda

ガルーダ

The menu here is about half Indonesian and half Nepalese. There is also an import grocery store attached, with items from various Asian countries.

Gosha and Suwa Shrines

五社神社, Gosha-jinja, and 諏訪神社, Suwa-jinja

Built in 1580 and 1556 respectively, these side-by-side shrines were reconstructed in the 1940s and serve downtown locals. Especially interesting at the shrine festival on May 4 or at Shichigosan on November 15 when local families wrap their small children in kimono and come here to pray.

Hamamatsu Castle

浜松城, Hamamatsu-jou

Hamamatsu Castle was built by Ieyasu Tokugawa, who is considered perhaps the greatest shogun and one of the three people most important to the unification of Japan. His rule marks the beginning of the Edo Period. Tokugawa lived here from 1571 to 1588. After the Edo Period, the castle was destroyed, and was restored to the original specifications in 1958. The foundation, which is original, is unique because it uses unhewn stones carefully selected and fitted to lean inward. There is a small museum inside the castle, which costs ¥200 to enter, and which houses some Tokugawa armor and relics, a preserved well moved from elsewhere on the grounds as well as a miniature model of how the city might have looked 400 years ago.

Hamamatsu Castle Park

浜松城公園, Hamamatsu-jō Kōen

North of the castle is a very big park with a Japanese garden, a koi pond, a ceremonial teahouse (see Drink below), and some commons areas. This is the best downtown location to go to see cherry blossoms in the spring.

Hamamatsu City Museum

浜松市博物館, Hamamatsu-shi Hakubutsukan

This museum, which is on the grounds of a pleasant park, is dedicated to the history of Hamamatsu and the surrounding area. Exhibits include locally-found pre-historic fossils, ancient pottery, old maps, and farming and domestic implements up through the Edo era. Also on the grounds are some shell mounds, evidence of pre-historic human life in the area. A reconstruction of a Jomon village has been installed among the mounds, giving the visitor an idea of what life was like here three to four thousand years ago. The name of the park and also the neighborhood, Shijimizuka, means "shell mound".

Tue-Sun 09:00-17:00

Hamamatsu Festival Hall

浜松まつり会館, Hamamatsu Matsuri Kaikan

This museum gives visitors a taste of the famous Hamamatsu Festival year round, with its huge kites, festival clothing, lanterns, and banners. Videos show how the kites are made, flown and fought.

Daily 09:00-16:30·¥400

Hamamatsu Flower Park

浜松フラワーパーク

This beautiful park has many gardens full of 3000 types of flowers, with over 100,000 plants in all. There is also a restaurant and shopping area.

Daily 09:00-17:00, closed Dec 29 to Jan 1·¥700

Hamamatsu Fruit Park

浜松フルーツパーク

This unique amusement park is a working fruit farm where you can see, touch, taste, and pick a variety of fruits.

Daily 09:00-17:00, closed Dec 29 to Jan 1 (closes at 16:30 from October through April)·¥700

Hamamatsu JASDF Air Park

航空自衛隊 浜松広報館, Koukuu Jieitai Hamamatsu Kouhoukan

This museum displays many aircraft used or in former use by JASDF, and many other aviation-related items. It also has a flight simulator and a theater which runs informative documentaries every 30 minutes (Japanese only).

Tue-Sun 09:00-16:00·Free

Hamamatsu Municipal Museum of Art

浜松市美術館, Hamamatsu-shi Bijutsukan

Just one stop up the road from city hall is Hamamatsu's art museum. Exhibits vary.

Hamamatsu Municipal Zoo

浜松市動物園

Well worth stopping if you are in Kanzanji. In the autumn, special evening hours allow to you visit the zoo after dark.

Hamamatsu Museum of Musical Instruments

浜松市楽器博物館, Hamamatsu-shi Gakki Hakubutsukan

This museum, just northeast of Act City Tower, houses a collection of over 2,000 kinds of ethnic instruments from around the world. Each instrument has a display attached, with headphones so you can listen to the sound of the instrument. The museum also has a hands-on room, where you can play many types of instruments; drums, xylophones, sitars and native Japanese instruments. This is a child friendly museum.

09:00-17:00, closed on the second Wed of each month·¥400, high school students half-price, children free

Hamamatsu Plaza

浜松プラザ

Another large shopping mall complex consisted of five buildings: Xebio, Costco, Frespo, FitnessRelaxation ZEN, and Hamamatsu Plaza West. A tourist may be interested in Frespo and Hamamatsu Plaza West the most. The former is itself a shopping mall that consists of daily goods stores, restaurants, and a supermarket, while the latter are retail chains such as Mont-Bell, Uniqlo, GU and ABC. Xebio provide sports goods and children's goods, FitnessRelaxation ZEN is a gym with an onsen, and Costco - just Costco. If you want, you can visit it in a day, especially if you have a Costco membership. Visiting the complex by car is recommended.

Hamamatsu Science Museum

浜松科学館, Hamamatsu Kagakukan

A range of interactive exhibits divided into five zones: nature, space, sound, light, and electricity. The third floor holds a planetarium.

Daily 09:30-18:00 during summer holidays (Jul 21 to Aug 31) and 09:30-17:00 (the rest of the year)·Museum only:Adults ¥500, ages 15-18 ¥350, children free; With planetarium:Adults ¥900, ages 15-18 ¥500, children ¥100