Hamamatsu, a growing middle-sized town
Hamamatsu-shi is located just between the two biggest cities in Japan, Tokyo and Osaka. Although Hamamatsu is not the prefectural seat, it holds the largest population in Shizuoka prefecture. The foundation of Hamamatsu as an industrial city, was established around the middle of the Meiji period (1868 - 1912) when textile and musical instrument industries rose. They have continued to be modernized until this day. During World War II, the city was bombed more than twenty times, as a result, most of the city was burnt down. However, the manufacturing transportation machines such as motorbikes, cars, and motorboats flourished after the war, which along with textile and musical instruments manufacturing, form the three major industries in the region. For fisheries, eel farming in Lake Hamana-ko is famous. For fish farming, the cultivation of clams and prawns are also carried on. The symbols of the city are; Lake Hamana-ko, or a recreational mecca, Hamamatsu-jo Castle, and Act City building complex, which was completed in front of the station in 1994.
