Located on the Pacific coast in central Honshu and within a 3.5-hour drive from most military bases in the Kanto Plain, Hamamatsu is a large castle city that is home to many natural and historical attractions.

Hamamatsu is also known as the “City of Music,” as it’s home to several of the world’s top- music instrument companies, including Yamaha and Kawai.

Classical music has been a major part of my life. I played the cello in several orchestras and quartets when I was younger and used to be a marketing manager of Japan’s top-ranked symphony orchestra. So, I had to drop by the Hamamatsu City Museum of Musical Instruments during a recent visit to the city. The spacious museum lets you check out both locally produced musical instruments and countless new and traditional instruments from all over the world. Located in the center of city, it is the only public museum of its kind in Japan and has attracted close to one million visitors since its opening in 1995.

Recently, my wife and I visited this museum to check out over 1,500 instruments on display at the numerous exhibits spotlighting the music of Asia, Oceania, Africa, the Americas, Europe and Japan. Besides modern Western-style music instruments, we saw countless rare and handmade instruments from Africa, Indonesia and Mongolia, along with old-time analog synthesizers, Japan’s first rhythm machine and retro organs. The sound of the displayed instruments can be checked out with a headphone set or the super directional speaker installed at each display stand.

While museum staffers demonstrate and perform some instruments several times a day, a hands-on experience corner lets you play unique folklore instruments. In the special corner, I was able to try a Mongolian traditional stringed instrument, “batokin.” Although it looked like a cello, I soon found it wasn’t. The batokin’s strings were thick and tight, so I could hardly make a sound with it. It wasn’t frustrating, it was simply fun discovering a new (albeit old) instrument.

Like every good museum, this one had a gift shop, so we picked up some postcards, accessories and bookmarks with musical motifs as souvenirs and presents for our friends.

Whether you are a music lover or not, the museum is fun to drop by when you are traveling around Hamamatsu City!

Hamamatsu City Museum of Musical Instruments 

• Location: 3-9-1 Chuo, Chuo-ku, Hamamatsu City, Shizuoka Prefecture

• Hours: Thu. – Tue., 9:30 a.m. – 5 p.m.

• Admission: Adults 800 yen, high school students 400 yen, middle school students or younger free

• URL

• Tel: 053-451-1128

View video of Hamamatsu here.

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