Hamamatsu (浜松市; -shi) is a city located in western Shizuoka, Japan. It is the second largest city in Shizuoka. The city will merge with surrounding 11 cities and towns in July 2005 and will become the largest city in Shizuoka.

Demographics

As of May 2004, the city has a population of 603,770 and the density of 2,350.40 persons per km². The total area is 256.88 km².

History and Industry

The city was founded on July 1, 1911. In 1570, Tokugawa Ieyasu, the founder of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan, built the Hamamatsu castle. Hamamatsu is famous as an industrial city, where Hamamatsu Photonics , Honda Motor Co., Kawai Musical Instruments Mfg., Suzuki Motor Co. and Yamaha Corporation were founded.

Transportation

Rail

Hamamatsu is a station on the Tokaido Shinkansen and Tokaido Main Line. As of 2005, this station is served by a small selection of Hikari services and all passing Kodama services. Hamamatsu is approximately halfway along the Tokaido line, as the journey time to both Tokyo and Shin-Osaka is approximately 1 and half hours with Hikari and 2 hours with Kodama.

Enshu Railroad line , a.k.a. Akaden (red train), is a local line running north from Shin-Hamamatsu station through Nishikajima station in Tenryu.

Tenryu Hamanako Railroad line stops at several stations in Miyakoda area.

Road

• Tomei Expressway (Hamamatsu IC and Hamamatsu Nishi IC)
• Route 1

Air

The nearest civilian airport is Chubu Centrair International Airport, near Nagoya, Aichi.

Bus

Bus is the major public transportation in Hamamatsu. Almost all services are operated by Enshu Railroad (Entetsu).

Colleges and Universities

• Hamamatsu Gakuin University
• Hamamatsu University School of Medicine
• Seirei Christpher College
• Shizuoka University
• Shizuoka University of Art and Culture

External links

• City's official website in Japanese. English and Portuguese versions are also available.
• Hamamatsu Museum of Musical Instruments