Visit Towel Museum Ichihiro in Towel City Imabari

Do you love patting your face with soft and fluffy towels?Then, include Japan's top towel producing city, Imabari in your Go-To list.Imabari brand towels are internationally renowned for their quality, and you'll be sure to find your favorite towel at the Towel Museum Ichihiro, a museum in Imabari area dedicated to towels.

Imabari City's Towels

towel museum imabari

People say good towels last about 5 to 10 years, and even the most high-end towels wear out at some point. If you feel like your towels are no longer fluffy, perhaps it's time to invest in some new, plush towels from Imabari city, Japan’s towel-producing top town. The towels made there are renowned for their quality.

With more than 100 firms involved in the towel-production process, Imabari city is Japan’s largest towel producing city, making up 60% of the country’s total towel production. Located in the northeastern part of Ehime prefecture in Shikoku, Japan’s fourth largest island, the area is known for its warm climate, citrus fruits, abundant nature, beautiful sceneries and of course, towels. Visit the Towel Museum Ichihiro, a museum about towels, in Imabari city to find your favorite towel.

5 Reasons why Imabari Towels are Loved

towel museum imabari Top quality Imabari towels all come with a red, white and blue Imabari towel Japan logo mark, signifying they have passed the quality standards of the Imabari Towel Industrial Association. So what are some of those standards and what makes Imabari towels so special? Here are the top 5 reasons.

HIGH ABSORBENCY
Imabari towels are effective at drying you off. One of the tests involved is a “5-second absorbency test” where they place towels in a bath of water to check that they don’t sink in within 5 seconds. Therefore, even before your first washing, they absorb moisture well and quickly soak in the water on your body. They are so effective that some fans say they only need to pat themselves to get dry.
SAFE TO USE
Imabari towels are chosen as gifts for newborns often. The association tests for certain substances such as formaldehyde, making sure that the towel is free from potentially harmful substances. Water plays a vital role when making towels, and Imabari towels are created using the city’s natural soft water from Soja river and Mount Ishizuchi, which has little to none heavy metals. Since water is so pure, they also do not have to use heavy bleaches to make purely white towels.
SOFT FEEL
Most Imabari factories employ the traditional technique of “saki-zarashi saki-zome”, where they bleach and dye the thread first. Much of the time, in other places, towels are bleached and dyed after the weaving process. Imabari towels are made with the actual thread being bleached and dyed before the weaving process, which leads to a softer feel. It should also be mentioned that the soft water being used also contributes to the towel’s softness.
LITTLE COLOR-FADING AND HIGH DURABILITY
Most Imabari factories use “Jacquard weaving” where the designs are woven into the towels as opposed to being printed or dyed after they have been woven. This process leads to less color-fading and more extended durability. This is also a reason why Imabari towel designs are often simple.
HIGH-QUALITY COTTON
As cotton is not easily farmed in Japan, Imabari factories import high-quality cotton such as long-staple and extra-long staple cotton from all over the world. Long staple fibers produce smoother yarns. They are also flexible, which makes them more durable. The combination of top quality cotton and Imabari’s spinning and weaving techniques make Imabari towels softer, and more durable.

Imabari city has been able to produce increasingly high-quality towels for more than 120 years, not only because of their natural environment but also because of the strong efforts of Imabari artisans. Towel manufacturing is such an integral part of Imabari city that there are several museums related to towels, but why not visit the world’s first towel museum called the Towel Museum Ichihiro?

Towel Museum Ichihiro

towel museum imabari Red, pink, light pink, yellow-- towels in 40 different colors line up like a color palette at the Towel Museum Ichihiro. Looking like a castle from the outside, the large Towel Museum Ichihiro is a unique museum that is dedicated to towels. You can learn about Imabari’s towel production, see how towels are manufactured, enjoy crafts like towel art, and also see temporary exhibitions within the museum.

The museum has five floors and a European style garden. The first floor is divided into three places: the museum marche (where they sell French souvenirs), the towel quality technology center (where they perform quality checks of towels), and the museum café where you can have a great cup of French afternoon tea while gazing at their beautiful European garden. They serve breakfast and lunch too.

The second floor sells Shikoku’s souvenirs. The third floor is a towel outlet shop where you can find a wide variety of towels from high-end to wallet-friendly. If you would like to have your name embroidered onto the towel, you can do so at the towel crafts center on the same floor.

towel museum imabari

You need to pay for admission (800 yen/adult) on the fourth and fifth floor. On these two floors, they have special exhibitions like Moomin, and displays of the most recent technology used to produce Imabari towels. There is also a “cotton road” section that displays interesting objects made out of cotton, such as enormous ice cream and cake. You can also have lunch at a high-end Chinese restaurant or a café with seats outside.

Towel Museum Ichihiro sells a variety of towels including original ones, which may make it hard for you to decide which towels to purchase. It all comes down to these questions though- How you like your towels? Do you like soft, plush and fluffy or do you prefer something a little coarser? Just touch all the towels there and find something that feels most comfortable against your skin and remember - before you make your way to the counter, see if it has an Imabari towel tag!

How To Visit

Fly from Tokyo to Matsuyama airport (1.5 hours). From Matsuyama Airport, take the shuttle bus to Matsuyama Station (25 min), then the JR Shiokaze Express to Imabari Station (35 min). From Imabari Station take the taxi to Towel Museum Ichihiro (25 min).

Towel Museum Ichihiro
Address: 2930 Asakurakami-kō, Imabari City, Ehime 799-1607
Tel: +81-(0)898-56-1515