Hamamatsu (浜松市; -shi) is a city located in western Shizuoka, Japan. It is the largest city in Shizuoka. Following the recent merger trends in Japan known as Heisei's big mergers, the city merged with surrounding 11 cities and towns on July 1 2005 and became the largest city in Shizuoka. It is slated to become a city designated by government ordinance on April 1 2007.

History

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The city was founded on July 1, 1911. In 1570, Tokugawa Ieyasu, the founder of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan, built the Hamamatsu castle.

Industry

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Hamamatsu has been famous as an industrial city, especially for musical instruments and motorcycles.

Companies headquartered in Hamamatsu

• Hamamatsu Photonics
• Kawai Musical Instruments Mfg.
• Roland Corporation
• Suzuki Motor Co.
• Yamaha Corporation

Company founded in Hamamatsu

• Honda Motor Co.

Transportation

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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 Railway Line, also known as Akaden (red train), is a local line running north from Shin-Hamamatsu station through Nishikajima station in Tenryu.

Tenryu Hamanako Railway Line stops at several stations in Miyakoda area.

Roads

• Expressway
  • Tomei Expressway (Hamamatsu I.C., Hamamatsu Nishi I.C., and Mikkabi I.C.)

• National Highways
  • Route 1
  • Route 42
  • Route 150
  • Route 152
  • Route 257
  • Route 301
  • Route 362

Bus

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

Radio stations

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• FM Haro! (JOZZ6AB FM, 76.1MHz)
• K-MIX (JOKU FM, 78.4MHz)
• NHK FM (JOPK FM, 82.1MHz)

Colleges and universities

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• Hamamatsu Gakuin University
• Hamamatsu Intercultural Exchange (HICE)
• Hamamatsu University
• Hamamatsu University School of Medicine
• Seirei Christpher College
• Shizuoka University (Faculty of Engineering and Faculty of Information)
• Shizuoka University of Art and Culture

External links

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

Cities in Shizuoka Prefecture

Hamamatsu | Hamamatsu | Hamamacu | Hamamatsu | 하마마쓰 시 | 浜松市 | Hamamatsu | Hamamatsu | Hamamatsu | 滨松市