"Touring Hamamatsu and its Suburbs" Top 5 Page for this destination Hamamatsu by taigaa001

The top photo is taken at Ryotenji Temple, Kita-ku, Hamamatsu. It's only twenty kilometers north of central Hamamatsu. Ryotanji is best known by its beautiful zen-style garden but the temple has a lot more to appeal to you.

Web blogs about Ryotanji Temple:
Girltron: Ryotanji Temple: Hamamatsu
USA Today Travel: Tourism in Hamamatsu

Greater Hamamatsu

Where did some of the towns go after they are amalgamated into a part of greater Hamamatsu?
Hamakita ....Hamakita-ku
Tenryu, Haruno, Misakubo, Sakuma and Tatsuoka....Tenryu-ku
Hosoe, Inasa, and Mikkabi...Kita-ku
Kami...Minami-ku
Yuto, Maisaka...Nishi-ku

Some people believe that Arai was merged into Hamamatsu. That's not true. Arai was merged into Kosai. And Kosai so far has no intention of merging either Hamamatsu nor Toyohashi. Also another urban legend that Iwata will merge into Hamamatsu will not be materialized at least another ten years.

Act Tower and Hamamatsu Station Building

Hamamatsu is the second largest city in area second only to Takayama City, Gifu. Hamamatsu can be likened to Tokyo-to in lesser scale. The whole city area about 1,500 square kilometers is more than two third of that of Tokyo-to larger than that of Hong Kong(1104 sq. km). The population is about 820,000 but more than 90 percent of the residents live within the 20 kilometer radius from the city center. Just like Okutama area of Tokyo-to, Hokuen Area, currently Tenryu-ku is rich in culture.
There is no official way to put expanded area of Hamamatsu. I use Greater Hamamatsu to refer to the whole city area and Hamamatsu N.T.(New Territories) as expanded area. But the expression may change from person to person. Just unofficial ways to put it in convenience.

Downtown Hamamatsu Viewed From Act City Garden

On 4th of June I went to Iwata and Hamamatsu. In Hamamatsu I visited Act City area and Hamamatsu Science Museum.

Hamamatsu During mid cherry-viewing season

It seemed as if Hamamatsu Castle were floating above the clouds of cherries. Excellent view. Yet Hamamatsu Castle Park was a bit messy with huge number of cherry-viewers. If you really want to enjoy the stroll around the park, avoid cherry seasons.

Youtube on Hamamatsu
A robot in Hamamatsu Science
Museum
New Year Visit to Akiha Shrine(in Japanese)
Useful Webpages on Hamamatsu
Hometown Homepage, Hamamatsu
Hamamatsu Newsletter
Hamamatsu Information Book

• Pros:Savvy both in tech and art
• Cons:Inconvenient Transportation, Poor sense of commerce
• In a nutshell:Dormant Giant