I went Hamamatsu city and lake Hamanako, Shizuoka prefecture, Japan between July 18th-20th 2015 with my friends.
So I introduce Hamamatsu and Lake Hamanako.
1st article is about Hamamatsu city.
Here is Hamamatsu station. I went Hamamatsu by car.
But Shinkansen is passing through. So access is very good.
Here is located center of Tokyo and Osaka.

This is a character of Hamamatsu city. Its name is Shusse-daimyo Ieyasukun.

It comes from Tokugawa Ieyasu(1543-1616). He became founder and first shogun of Edo Bakufu in 1601.
He built Hamamatsu castle in 1570 and stayed here until 1586. Many important battle was held during this period.
He finally succeeded. So Hamamatsu is called city of successful career. Actually,many companies have succeeded here.
For example Yamaha(car,bike,musical instruments),Honda(car,bike),Suzuki(car,bike).
They are now global companies.
Here is Hamamatsu castle.

And this is a statue of Ieyasu Tokugawa.

Stone wall is from about 400 years ago. So please don’t touch.

Another angle.

It was cloudy, I tried HDR to make dramatic image.


Close up of stone wall.


Here can enter top of the castle.
This day was cloudy. I could not take good picture.

Entrance Fee
200 yen(Adult)
Under 15(junior high school student) is free.
Hamamatsu Castle (Japanese)
Around castle is beautiful park.There are full of nature.



This is pine tree which is said that Ieyasu Tokunaga put his armor.

There are many places related to Ieyasu Tokugawa in Hamamatsu.
Ieyasu Promenade(Japanese)
You know about history of hamamatsu.
How is Hamamatsu now? It’s big city. Let’s see general view of Hamamatsu.
This tall building is Act Tower. Visitors enjoy view from 185m high.

Shinkansen is cominng!
Sea over there is Pacific Ocean. This area is especially called Enshunada.


Opposite side. Forest of buildings.



Can you see hamamatsu Castle??

This is a Shizuoka University of Art and Culture. unique design.

Entrance fee
500 yen Adult (over 12 years old / Junior high school student)
300 yen Children (Under 12 years old / Elementary school student)
Sometimes here is closed because of occupation.
Please check calendar.
This calendar is Japanese.But red day is closed.
Hamamatsu city is cultural place. Especially about music.
Here are many musical instrument companies.
For example YAMAHA, KAWAI, Roland, BOSS.
So here is musical instruments museum.
This is exterior of Hamamatsu Museum of Musical Instruments.
Visitors can see various musical instruments from all over the world.
I introduce some rare musical instruments.

Japan.


Electronic technology.

China.

Vietnam.

Thailand.

Mongolia and Tibet.

Indonesia.

Europe.

Kenya.


Africa.

Papua New Guinea.

Australia.

Pianos.

Beautiful Harpsichord.

General view.

I couldn’t imagine how to play many of instrument.
In various area on the earth, people produced their own music and musical instruments.
I felt creativity of human being. Here is a cross culture great museum.
Entrance Fee
Adults : 400 yen
High School Students : 200yen
Under Junior High School Students, over 70 years old and Handicapped Persons : free
Taking photos inside museum is OK.(No flash, No tripods.)
Hamamatsu Museum of Musical Instruments (English)
I think Hamamastu is cross culture city.
In Edo period,Ieyasu Tokugawa made 5 main roads. One of them is Tokaido road.
Tokaido tied Edo(now Tokyo) and Kyoto. Hamamatsu was located middle of it. Many people and culture must have passed through Hamamatsu.
Hamamatsu people might have touched both east(Edo) and west(Kyoto,Osaka) culture.
So Hamamatsu must have been familiar with mixed culture.
Now Hamamatsu have many factories of large companies.
Many workers from foreign countries are working there.
I have heard that there are many Brazilian people in Hamamatsu, and there are store for them.
So to visit that store is my main purpose of this travel.
We asked tourist information in Hamamatsu station, and went there.
Here is a store “SERVITU”.

Staffs were so nice and I could interior photos.
Many Portuguese and foreign foods.



Beans are often used for Brazilian meal for example Feijoada. Various kinds of beans.

Staff said that recently Asian people are increasing in Hamamatsu.
So there were also Asian foods.
Vietnam shelf.

Indonesia shelf.

There are also HALAL product. Maybe here comes many Muslim people.
In Japan, stores which deal with HALAL product is few. So this store will be helpful for Muslim people in Japan.


Brazilian bread is famous product.

There are also Brazilian restaurant.
These were delicious.

Because many Japanese Brazilians come here, there are some Japanese foods like Umeboshi(Above left).

I ate these meal and many deserts. Pudding was really tasty! But I forgot to take that photo!

Now Japan has so many foreign traveler. The number of foreign traveler is increasing quickly.
We need diversity like Hamamatsu. We will have to learn from Hamamatsu the way live in cross culture.
SERVITU (Japanese)
When it comes to food,Hamamatsu is famous for 餃子(Gyoza means Dumplings).
Hamamatsu are competing with Utsunomiya city about consumption of Gyoza.

We went famous Gyoza restaurant. Here is “Mutsugiku”. There were long line!

This is Gyoza. Soft and simple taste. I prefer juicy one…

After back to hotel, I went city again to take night scene.
This is Tokaido. Huge traffic.

I found Spiral staircase by chance.
Mysterious view.


Spiral staircase is over there. When I was taking this photo, heavy rain began. I stopped shooting.I think there are many photogenic places in Hamamatsu!

Related Article : Let’s enjoy Hamamatsu!! Lake Hamanako