更新日：2025年4月10日

Toward Becoming a City Symbolizing 21st-Century Manufacturing

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• Hamamatsu’s Industries
• Message from the Mayor
• Evolution of Hamamatsu Manufacturing
• Global Companies Rooted in Hamamatsu
• Local Firms with Exceptional Technology

Hamamatsu’s Industries

Hamamatsu is home to a wide range of growing, innovative industries.

Photonics

Hamamatsu leads the world in the cutting-edge field of optoelectronics. Anchored by Hamamatsu Photonics, the city drives advanced research and development in areas such as medical devices and precision measurement instruments.

Music & Sound

Home to world-renowned instrument makers Yamaha and Kawai, Hamamatsu continues to lead in sound innovation—extending its expertise into audio equipment, music software, and related technologies.

Mobility

Known as the birthplace of Suzuki and Honda, Hamamatsu’s companies are not just automotive industry pioneers—they’re also investing in next-generation mobility and aerospace technologies.

AgriTech

With a warm climate that supports a thriving agricultural sector, Hamamatsu’s local growers are also using smart farming technologies and ICT-powered plant factories, along with other cutting-edge AgriTech.

Health & Medical
Leveraging Hamamatsu’s strengths in photonics, local firms are developing advanced medical devices and working with regional healthcare providers to grow the city’s healthtech sector.

Message from Mayor Yusuke Nakano

Hamamatsu is a city with deep manufacturing roots and a forward-looking spirit of innovation, home to a wide range of companies—from globally recognized corporations to small and mid-sized firms with exceptional technologies. As the Osaka-Kansai Expo approaches, the city is launching new initiatives to help more people discover the strengths of our industries. Together with our citizens and local businesses, we extend a warm welcome to visitors from across Japan and around the world.

• Mayor’s Office (Click to visit the mayor’s official website.)
  ※Link here

Hamamatsu’s Evolution: Foundations

Edo Period to the Prewar Era

The roots of Hamamatsu City’s industries trace back to the Edo period, when the local economy was built on textiles, lumber milling, and woodworking. The city soon became home to inventors and entrepreneurs who developed various types of machinery and launched businesses one after another. In the Meiji era, Hamamatsu attracted the JR Central rail yard, helping diversify and expand the city’s industrial base. Local crafts evolved: Textiles gave way to automated looms, and lumber work led to advanced woodworking machinery. As modernization and the expansion of transportation infrastructure advanced, Hamamatsu’s industrial base grew to encompass musical instruments, precision machinery, and automobiles.

A major milestone came in 1926 when Kenjiro Takayanagi—known as the “father of television”—succeeded in projecting an image—the katakana character “イ—onto a cathode-ray tube for the first time in history. The innovation laid the foundation for Hamamatsu’s world-leading optics industry.

Postwar Era to the Heisei Period

The same spirit of transformation continued after World War II. The industrial evolution that took place before the war—from textiles to automatic looms, from sawmills to woodworking machines—now progressed further, as motorized bicycles spawned motorcycles and eventually four-wheeled automobiles.

The city’s “Big Three” industries—textiles, musical instruments, and motorcycles—spurred development in numerical control (NC) machine tools, precision metalworking equipment, and other supporting technologies. Suzuki, Hamamatsu’s largest corporation, helped expand the city’s global presence in the 1980s, when its compact cars became hits in India.

While the late 20th century brought economic headwinds, many Hamamatsu firms overcame them by refining their core technologies and continuing to evolve — a drive for innovation that still defines the region today.

Present

Today, Hamamatsu remains a leading manufacturing hub. The transportation equipment industry is a key pillar, while the musical instrument sector is another signature strength. Looking ahead, the city has designated seven growth sectors as strategic priorities, supporting them through collaboration among industry, academia, government, and finance—to realize its vision of “Hamamatsu: City of Industrial Innovation.”

Future

Hamamatsu’s Seven Growth Sectors

Global Companies/Hamamatsu Roots

Strategically located between Tokyo and Osaka, Hamamatsu benefits from a mild climate and abundant natural resources, including the Tenryū River. These advantages helped shape its long tradition of craftsmanship and manufacturing excellence.

That legacy has powered the rise of globally recognized companies in textiles, musical instruments, and mobility. Today, a new generation of Hamamatsu’s innovators is gaining international attention in cutting-edge fields like photonics, electronics, and precision engineering.

●Learn more about Hamamatsu’s world-leading companies:

• Kawai Musical Instruments Manufacturing Co., Ltd. (Kawai)
  https://www.kawai-global.com/（A new window will open）
• Suzuki Motor Corporation (Suzuki)
  https://www.globalsuzuki.com/（A new window will open）
• Hamamatsu Photonics K.K.
  https://www.hamamatsu.com/（A new window will open）
• Yamaha Corporation (Yamaha)
  https://www.yamaha.com/en/（A new window will open）
• Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd. (Yamaha Motor)
  https://global.yamaha-motor.com（A new window will open）
• Roland Corporation (Roland)
  https://www.roland.com/（A new window will open）

Local Firms/Exceptional Technology

Hamamatsu is home to a dynamic network of small and medium-sized firms with exceptional technical capabilities, providing vital support to the region’s industrial base. In addition to its global manufacturers, Hamamatsu is home to a dynamic network of small and mid-sized firms with exceptional technical capabilities. These companies provide essential support to the region’s industrial base and drive innovation in fields ranging from photonics to precision engineering.
 

Explore more of Hamamatsu’s manufacturing excellence here:

https://hamamatsu-mononavi.jp/（A new window will open）