Hamamatsu Things to Do

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This park is commonly referred to as "Hamakita Forest Park". It is undoubtedly one of the biggest public parks near the huge industrial city Hamamatsu. The park has 215ha in area nearly as large as London's Hyde Park. Birdpia Hamakita at the north-central edge of the park serves as a visitor center. Most visitors of the park enjoy short trip to the suspension bridge, and stroll around pond and grassy park area with day-camp facility. Near the park there are some nice places to visit including Gansuiji temple at the south-eastern direction and day-trip Onsen Aratamanoyu, the west of the park.

To find out about this park in detail please also see my Hamakita Page
---Map

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The park at the former site of Hamamatsu Municipal Hall is connected to the community hall area by the red bridge called "Kodomono Hashi" or "the Children's Bridge". The park has some war memorial monuments and is a nice place to view cherry blossoms. Close to the park is Gosha Shrine.
Children's Bridge was built in 1967. Before this fancy pedestrian bridge was built there had been sad traffic accidents involving children crossing the busy street to get to the children's museum(currently Hamamatsu Science Museum near the station). A samaritarian donated 10 million yen to the museum so that the bridge could be built.

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Private and small art museum opened in 1989 is known only to fans of Japanese artists. Collection of the Hiranos include the works of Daikan Yokoyama and Kazan Watanabe. If you love Japanese paitings this museum is a nice place to visit. They sell postcards of major exhibits for only 100 yen per piece.

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When you walk near the Gosha Park you will see the torii gate carrying two shrine names. I have been to a lot of shrines but I have never seen like this. Gosha shrine was founded in late 16th century and closely related to Iyeyasu Tokugawa. Suwa Shrine dates back as far as late 8th century. Both shrine used to have buildings designated as national treasures but the air raid during second world war turned them into ashes. In 1960 Gosha and Suwa shrines were amalgamated into one single religious entity. Present Main Shrine building was built in 1982. Gosha and Suwa Shrine is also used as a shrine characters of "Ichigo Mashimaro" often visit.

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Hamamatsu Castle Park is a huge park in downtown Hamamatsu with 10.28 ha in area. It has a castle keep reconstructured in 1958 and a Japanese garden, Shointei, tea houses with gardens, a museum, kiddie parks, a swimming pool. It is also one of the most popular cherry viewing sites in Hamamatsu.

HICE (pronounced "highs") is a great source of information for foreigners living or even visiting Hamamatsu. They provide daily living information and assistance, counselling, language assistance, and event information.

Just outside of the HICE office is their communication (bulletin) board. There are ads for jobs, sayonara (goodbye) sales, language lessons and exchanges, event listings, and more. It's free to post--all you need to do is show your ad to the staff to get if approved. If you are living or staying in Hamamatsu for a while, you should definitely check it out.

The Shizuoka International Garden and Horticulture Exhibition, also known as Pacific Flora 2004, is being held right next to Lake Hamana. Plants from all over the world are being displayed--over 5 million specimens of 6,000 varieties. There are also museums and other exhibits in addition to the gardens.

Check out their official web site (English version) to learn more about the park and attractions.

Tenryu-ku is one of the seven wards of the Greater Hamamatsu and the largest in area about half of that of Tokyo-to (944 square kilometers). It has only 34,000 people and most of them are in former Tenryu-city area so the rest of the area is one of the most sparsely populated areas in Japan. The most popular destination of this area is undoubtedly Akiha Shrine, enshrining the god of fire protection. Futamata area has lots of historical sites such as Tobayama castle and Futamata castle and Akino Fuku Art Museum is also one of the hottest destinations in Futamata. Misakubo area, far north part of Tenryu-ku is a remote town but is rich in culture, Takane Castle is the biggest draw of this place.