Hamamatsu

One of the kites

A windmill - there are lots of modern windmills in Hamamatsu because of...well....all the wind :)

We went Hamamatsu yesterday. It takes a couple of hours to get there and is about half-way to Mt. Fuji on the Pacific side. It actually snowed on us while we were at the beach!

It was a very beautiful beach - the water was a gorgeous blue! We got to see the Nakatajima Dunes - they make it a long walk to the ocean. Because of all the sand, the Loggerhead Sea Turtles come to nest there. Apparently, the eggs are gathered and kept until they hatch. Then the hatchlings are released to return to the sea. Hopefully, we will get to watch this in the future!
We saw surfers and then I understood why Sam wanted to go "exploring" here. He told me this is where he wants to take kite boarding lessons.

We also got to watch some people flying their kites - really large kites. They have a festival every year in May. Over 160 kites take to the air at the same time for the kite battle. They literally fight each other, trying to cut the strings of the other kites. The festival originated about 430 years ago, when the lord of Hamamatsu Castle celebrated the birth of his first son by flying kites.

The Shijimizuka Ruins are also located in Hamamatsu. They are the ruins of a primitive village from 3000 - 4000 years ago. Houses were reconstructed to help show the life style of the primitive people. The park includes the Hamamatsu History Museum that displays excavations from the ruins. I didn't get to go to this, but look forward to going back to tour it.

As with the other places we've gone, it was a beautiful place with a lot of fascinating history.

~Michelle