The Imabari area offers tourist attractions such as the Shimanami Kaido, Kokubunji Temple, and Oyamazumi Shrine, tourist events such as Imabari Jazz Town, Yakushi Festival, and Shima Shikoku, and local delicacies such as Ponju, roasted pork and egg rice, and jakoten.
Shimanami Kaido is a connecting road between Honshu and Shikoku. The road on the sea connecting islands in the Seto Inland Sea is ideal for driving. Bicycle riding is also permitted, making it a hot spot for cycling enthusiasts from all over Japan.
Imabari is the starting point of the Shikoku River on the Shimanami Kaido. As is typical of a city by the sea, the moat of Imabari Castle in the center of the city offers a rare view of seawater flowing through the moat.
At Itoyama Park and the Kurushima Kaikyo Observation Hall, you can enjoy a magnificent view of Japan's largest dynamic tidal current and the world's first triple suspension bridge stretching far into the distance.
After enjoying the scenery of the Seto Inland Sea, a social studies tour for adults is also recommended. The area is famous for its textile industry and for producing "Imabari towels," which now account for more than 60% of all towels produced in Japan.
At "Texport Imabari," where you can learn about this local industry, you can make a reservation to visit a towel factory and observe the manufacturing process.
Also known as the birthplace of the Noma Horse, the smallest native horse in Japan, visitors to "Nomauma Highland" can enjoy its lovely appearance to the fullest. There is a horse riding experience corner, where even children can enjoy riding the horses, as they are very small (less than 120 cm in height). There is also a pasture, where visitors can relax just by watching the horses.
When you get hungry after a day of fun, you can enjoy the famous Imabari yakitori (grilled chicken). The unique yakitori, which is not on a skewer, is hard to find anywhere else.
In addition, as the area was once the home of the Murakami Suigun (naval force), you can taste the dynamic Suigun cuisine that uses plenty of fish and seafood from the Seto Inland Sea.
After dinner, you can relax in the famous hot spring baths of Yunoura Onsen to relieve travel fatigue. You can also stop by at the "Qua House Imabari," which looks like a Roman bathhouse, and enjoy a hot spring bath. For souvenirs, "Imabari no hen egg manju," a famous confectionary with a history of more than 200 years, is also popular.
The bridge is located in the area where the Iyo Suigun (navy) used to base themselves. The scenery is beautiful and the view of the Kurushima Kaikyo and the whirlpools can be seen from the bridge. It is one of Japan's three most rapid currents, and at its highest, maelstroms can be seen in various places.The Kurushima Kaikyo Bridge spans the 4-km-wide strait. It is the world's first triple suspe...»
The world's first facility to propose towel culture.The building area is 10,000 tsubo, and the adjoining European Garden is 10,000 tsubo. The museum features a variety of spectacular towel art created using towels.Cotton Road, where visitors can observe the spinning process from cotton to yarn and the towel weaving process. The largest towel collection store in western Japan with a wide selectio...»
This castle was built in 1604 by Takatora Todo, a master castle builder.It is a coastal plain castle with seawater drawn into the three-layered moat, a rarity in Japan, and was a castle that made the most of the sea, as Imabari was a strategic point for marine transportation, with boats able to enter the moat directly from the sea. It is one of the three great water castles in Japan, along with T...»