From Matsuyama Airport to the Towel Museum, Leaving at Toyo-Tanbara IC and Driving to Asakura in Imabari

The exits in the official guides are Toyo-Tanbara IC and Imabari IC

For the Towel Museum (タオル美術館) in Asakura, Imabari, the official guides show a route that goes from the Matsuyama Expressway onto the Imabari-Komatsu Expressway at Iyo-Komatsu JCT and leaves at Toyo-Tanbara IC. The name of the museum on the official site is “Towel Museum.” “Imabari Towel Main Store and Imabari Towel LAB (Texport Imabari)” (今治タオル 本店・今治タオルLAB（テクスポート今治）) in Tomon-cho, Imabari, is a different facility, which the Ehime tourism site covers on a separate page.

The “Access” page on the museum’s official site says, in the diagram of ways to travel, about 10 minutes by car from Toyo-Tanbara IC and about 15 minutes by car from Imabari IC. What is written in text is the time on local roads from Dogo, and the car times to nearby sightseeing spots.

What is written	Starting point	Which page
About 10 minutes by car from Toyo-Tanbara IC	Toyo-Tanbara IC	Museum’s official site (diagram on the access page)
About 15 minutes by car from Imabari IC	Imabari IC	Museum’s official site (diagram on the access page)
About 10 minutes from Toyo-Tanbara IC	Toyo-Tanbara IC	Imabari City (tourist spots)
About 20 minutes from Imabari IC	Imabari IC	Imabari City (tourist spots)
About 13 minutes from Toyo-Tanbara IC	Toyo-Tanbara IC	Ehime tourism site (Iyokan Net)
About 20 minutes from Imabari IC	Imabari IC	Ehime tourism site (Iyokan Net)
About 1 hour from Dogo via National Route 317	Dogo	Museum’s official site, Iyokan Net

For Toyo-Tanbara IC, the museum’s official site and Imabari City say about 10 minutes, and the prefecture says about 13 minutes. For Imabari IC too, the numbers differ: the official site says about 15 minutes, and Imabari City and the prefecture say about 20 minutes. We list both instead of choosing one. Imabari IC is an interchange on the Shimanami Kaido side, and it is not on the way from Matsuyama Airport.

The “Access” column of the Ehime tourism site is as follows.

東予丹原ICより車で約13分/今治ICより車で約20分/道後より国道317号経由車で約1時間/今治駅からタクシーで約25分

Translation: “About 13 minutes by car from Toyo-Tanbara IC / about 20 minutes by car from Imabari IC / about 1 hour by car from Dogo via National Route 317 / about 25 minutes by taxi from Imabari Station”

Source: タオル美術館｜愛媛のスポット・体験｜愛媛県の公式観光サイト【いよ観ネット】

Imabari Yunoura IC does not appear as an exit on any page of the museum’s official site, Imabari City, Ehime Prefecture, or the Imabari Area Tourism Association.

Time from the airport to Toyo-Tanbara IC

We could not find an official page that gives a travel time all the way from the airport to the museum. What we found are the following numbers, each with a different starting point.

What is written	Start and end	Which page
About 1 hour 20 minutes by expressway	The start is “Iyo-Komatsu-kita IC,” and the end is Matsuyama Airport (the direction toward the airport)	Matsuyama Airport, “空港までのアクセス” (toward Imabari)
About 1 hour 30 minutes by local roads	The start is “near Imabari City Hall”	Matsuyama Airport, “空港までのアクセス” (toward Imabari)
About 1 hour 20 minutes from the airport to Imabari Station	The end is Imabari Station	Ehime tourism site (Iyokan Net)

The Ehime guide gives a breakdown from the airport to Imabari Station.

マイカーをご利用の場合 松山空港～今治駅（約1時間20分） 松山空港 県道22号線・190号線約15分 余戸南IC 松山外環状道路、松山・今治小松自動車道約45分 今治湯ノ浦IC 国道196号線約20分 今治駅

Translation: “If you use your own car: Matsuyama Airport to Imabari Station (about 1 hour 20 minutes). Matsuyama Airport. Prefectural Roads 22 and 190, about 15 minutes. Yogominami IC. Matsuyama Outer Ring Road and the Matsuyama and Imabari-Komatsu Expressway, about 45 minutes. Imabari Yunoura IC. National Route 196, about 20 minutes. Imabari Station.”

Source: 松山空港から今治駅へ｜アクセス（愛媛県内の移動）｜愛媛県の公式観光サイト【いよ観ネット】

Our calculation: about 70 to 73 minutes (not an official number)

If you add the about 10 minutes (Imabari City) or about 13 minutes (the prefecture) from Toyo-Tanbara IC to the museum to the about 15 minutes and about 45 minutes of this breakdown, you get about 70 minutes to about 73 minutes. This is our calculation, not an official travel time. The about 45 minutes is the time to Imabari Yunoura IC, which is beyond Toyo-Tanbara IC, and there is no official number that says how much shorter it is if you leave at Toyo-Tanbara IC. Time for rests and congestion is not included.

The route from the airport to Toyo-Tanbara IC

The road from the airport through Yogominami IC, Matsuyama IC, and Iyo-Komatsu JCT, up to entering the Imabari-Komatsu Expressway, is the same as in the Imabari Castle article. According to the page of the Roads Division of Imabari City, the Imabari-Komatsu Expressway is open between Imabari Yunoura IC and Toyo-Tanbara IC (9 km) and between Toyo-Tanbara IC and Iyo-Komatsu IC (4 km). You drive in the order of points 1 to 5.

For expressway tolls, the page of Imabari City only has a link to the toll search of West Nippon Expressway Company, and does not give amounts. Enter your vehicle type and the date and time in the toll search to check.

From Toyo-Tanbara IC to the museum, the route seen in the map data

We could not find an official guide that describes the route from Toyo-Tanbara IC to the museum. In the map data (OpenStreetMap), one route connected from the exit to the museum is as follows.

Order	Road	Where it goes
1	Unnamed road	Leave the exit of Toyo-Tanbara IC and go northwest
2	Shuso Wide-Area Farm Road	Point 6
3	Wide-Area Farm Road	Point 7
4	Sugoe Tunnel	Point 8
5	Unnamed road	Leave the tunnel and go to the museum

When we measured the length of this route in the map data, it was about 8.2 km. This is also our measurement, not an official distance. In practice, check with your car navigation and the guide signs on site.

We also measured the route from the map data in the same way for leaving at Imabari Yunoura IC. From the exit to the museum, it was a route of about 8.0 km through National Route 196, Prefectural Road 162, Prefectural Road 155, and Prefectural Road 154. Imabari City writes 9 km between Imabari Yunoura IC and Toyo-Tanbara IC, so if you go on to Imabari Yunoura IC, you drive about 9 km more on the expressway, and the distance after you leave is almost the same. We have not confirmed the difference in time and toll.

Opening status of Imabari Asakura IC to Imabari Yunoura IC

The Imabari-Komatsu Expressway is not yet connected on the Imabari side beyond Imabari Yunoura IC. The Imabari Road page of the Matsuyama River and National Highway Office of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism shows the following, as of the check on October 13, 2026.

今治朝倉IC～今治湯ノ浦IC 令和８年度 開通予定

Translation: “Imabari Asakura IC to Imabari Yunoura IC. Scheduled to open in fiscal year Reiwa 8.”

Source: 国道196号 今治道路 | 松山河川国道事務所

Fiscal year Reiwa 8 is from April 2026 to March 2027. It does not give an opening date. The newest date among the notices on the same page is February 16, Reiwa 8 (the new “Infrastructure DX” page), and we did not find an announcement of the opening date.

The name of the new interchange was decided as “Imabari Asakura IC” in an announcement on November 11, Reiwa 7 (2025). The material of the announcement gives the length of the section scheduled to open in fiscal year Reiwa 8 as 5.7 km. We could not find an official guide that gives the position of Imabari Asakura IC or its distance to the museum. Imabari Asakura IC does not appear in the access guides of the museum’s official site, Imabari City, or Ehime Prefecture either.

At Imabari Yunoura IC, NEXCO West Japan is changing the shape of the ramps for reconstruction work. It announced that it would change the shape of the exit ramp at 6:00 on November 27, Reiwa 7 (2025), and the entrance ramp at 6:00 on May 22, Reiwa 8 (2026). It writes that it plans further changes in shape. On the route of this article you leave at Toyo-Tanbara IC, so you do not pass Imabari Yunoura IC.

Whether the guide to the exit changes after the opening, check on the Ministry’s page and on the museum’s official site.

Night closures and construction

The page of NEXCO West Japan on night closures in Shikoku lists the following sections (checked on October 13, 2026).

Section	Schedule	Reserve days
Matsuyama Expressway, Matsuyama IC to Ozu-kita IC, both directions	From the night of September 28 (Mon) to the morning of October 17 (Sat). 14 nights, excluding Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays	From the night of October 19 (Mon) to the morning of October 23 (Fri)
Imabari-Komatsu Road, Imabari Yunoura IC to Iyo-Komatsu JCT/IC, both directions	From the night of November 10 (Tue) to the morning of November 19 (Thu). 7 nights, excluding Saturdays and Sundays	From the night of November 19 (Thu) to the morning of November 21 (Sat)

The row for the Imabari-Komatsu Road says “※いよ小松JCT・ICはご利用できます。” (* Iyo-Komatsu JCT/IC can be used.) The section between Matsuyama IC and Iyo-Komatsu JCT, which the route of this article passes, is not in the table of the page.

The November section of the Imabari-Komatsu Road includes Toyo-Tanbara IC on the way. The announcement of NEXCO West Japan writes the hours as “夜間通行止めは、毎夜19時から翌朝6時まで実施します。” (Night closures will be carried out every night from 19:00 to 6:00 the next morning.) They are not carried out on the nights of Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays. The page does not say how Toyo-Tanbara IC is handled. The detour is National Routes 196 and 11, and the leaflet gives the time for the detour as about 25 minutes. If you return from the museum to the airport on a night in this schedule, check the guide of NEXCO West Japan before you leave. The museum closes at 18:00.

The construction around the museum is as follows. The “Road construction information” of Imabari City lists three works with the district name “Asakura.” They are the repair of Sakuragi Bridge (桜樹橋) (Asakura-kami, scheduled to finish on January 29, 2027), the roadside improvement of the Takaki-Taki Line (高木多伎線) (Asakura Furuya, scheduled to finish on January 29, 2027), and the repair of Shingu Bridge (新宮橋) (Asakura-shimo, scheduled to finish on December 14, 2026). In addition, the replacement of a water pipe in Asakura-minami is listed as scheduled to finish on October 13, 2026. We could not confirm how these relate to the road to the museum. The page also writes “緊急を要する工事は反映されていません” (Urgent works are not reflected).

The “Road information” page of Imabari City shows the following about road conditions such as disasters announced by the city (checked on October 13, 2026).

現在お知らせする道路情報はありません。

Translation: “There is no road information to announce at present.”

Source: 道路情報 | 今治市

Where to check for prefectural roads, national roads, and expressways is collected in the road information article. The page of the Road Maintenance Division of Ehime Prefecture writes the Road Maintenance Division of the Ehime Prefecture Public Works Department as the contact for national roads other than those managed by the national government, and prefectural roads. For expressways it is the NEXCO West Japan Customer Center.

By local roads: about 1 hour from Dogo via National Route 317

The only guide for local roads written in text on the “Access” page of the museum’s official site is just this one line.

◆道後から国道317号線経由で約1時間

Translation: “◆ About 1 hour from Dogo via National Route 317”

Source: アクセス - タオル美術館

The diagram of ways to travel on the official site also says about 1 hour by car from JR Matsuyama Station and about 1 hour 25 minutes by car from Matsuyama Kanko Port. The Ehime tourism site also writes about 1 hour from Dogo via National Route 317. The starting point is Dogo, not Matsuyama Airport. The way from the airport to Dogo is in the Dogo Onsen article. We could not find on official pages the route on National Route 317, or the time on local roads from the airport to the museum.

Parking is free

The “Detailed information” of the museum’s official site has the following sentence.

駐車場は無料でご利用いただけます。

Translation: “You can use the parking lot free of charge.”

Source: タオル美術館詳細情報 - タオル美術館

The parking diagram on the “Access” page of the museum’s official site says 250 standard cars, 10 large buses, and that parking is free. Other official-type pages are as follows.

Page	What is written
Ehime tourism site (Iyokan Net)	250 standard cars / 10 large vehicles, free
Imabari Area Tourism Association	Free, 250 standard cars, 10 buses
Tourism page of Imabari City	“Yes, large vehicles allowed” (no number of spaces)

The numbers of spaces are the same on the official site’s diagram, the prefecture, and the tourism association. For the large vehicles, the official site writes “large buses,” the prefecture “large vehicles,” and the tourism association “buses.” In the parking diagram on the official site, parking lots are drawn on both sides of the Wide-Area Farm Road that passes in front of the museum. We could not read the position and direction of the entrance from the diagram. The official site says that if you come as a group, you need to apply in advance even for a stop only, so that the parking lot can be secured and admission tickets prepared.

Opening hours, closed days, and fees

On the “Detailed information” page of the museum’s official site, the opening hours are 9:30 to 18:00 all year, and gallery visits are until 30 minutes before closing. The closed days listed are Thursday, January 14, and Tuesday, January 19, 2027. We did not find the closed days for 2026, or the opening for the New Year holidays from the end of 2026 to the start of 2027, on the official site. The newest notice about the New Year opening on the news page is dated December 13, Reiwa 7 (2025).

Imabari City writes that the closed days are in the cold season, and Ehime Prefecture writes they are in winter. The Imabari Area Tourism Association writes that it is open all year, but has closed days in January.

The museum admission fee (per person) is 1,000 yen for adults, 800 yen for junior high and high school students, and 600 yen for elementary school students. Children younger than elementary school are free.

Category	Fee	Which page
Discount for people with disabilities	500 yen (500 yen for a helper)	Museum’s official site
Senior discount (65 and over)	700 yen	Museum’s official site, Imabari Area Tourism Association
Senior (65 and over)	600 yen	Tourism page of Imabari City

The senior fee is 700 yen on the museum’s official site and the tourism association, and 600 yen on the page of Imabari City, so the numbers differ.

The “Detailed information” on the official site also has a guide about using the museum for shopping or meals only.

ショッピングやお食事のみでもご利用いただけます。 その場合、入館料は不要です。

Translation: “You can also use it for shopping or meals only. In that case, the admission fee is not needed.”

Source: タオル美術館詳細情報 - タオル美術館

The opening hours of the restaurants and cafes are written on the same page as follows.

Shop	Opening hours
New Creative Chinese Cuisine Wangfujing (新創作中国料理 王府井)	11:00 to 14:30 (last order 14:00), 17:00 to 20:30 (last order 20:00)
Museum Cafe	9:30 to 18:00 (last order 17:30)
Garden Cafe	10:00 to 16:00 (last order 15:30)

About the night illumination, the news on the official site dated November 11, Reiwa 7 (2025) has a notice about the restaurant’s night opening during the period from November 1, 2025 to January 31, 2026. The illumination page showed “新しい記事はありません” (There are no new articles) as of October 13, 2026, so we could not confirm the period for this year.

The official site asks visitors not to bring pets. It writes that there are wheelchairs and strollers for loan, toilets for people with disabilities, and a nursing room.

From the museum to places nearby

The “Access” page of the official site writes the car time and distance from the museum to nearby sightseeing spots.

Destination	By car	Distance
Nihon Shokken KO Palace (日本食研KO宮殿)	About 18 minutes	10.8km
Imabari Castle	About 23 minutes	13km
Sunrise Itoyama	About 33 minutes	19.2km
Kirosan Observation Park	About 38 minutes	29.3km
Dolphin Farm Shimanami	About 39 minutes	36.1km
Oyamazumi Shrine	About 55 minutes	50km

The starting point is the museum, not the time from the destination to the museum. Imabari Castle is covered in the Imabari Castle article, Kirosan Observation Park in the Kirosan article, and Itoyama Park in the Itoyama Park article.

What to check before you leave

• Exit: Toyo-Tanbara IC. After Imabari Asakura IC opens, check on the Ministry’s page and on the museum’s official site.
• Night closures: Imabari Yunoura IC to Iyo-Komatsu JCT/IC is planned from the night of November 10 to the morning of November 19. See the latest schedule on the night closure page of NEXCO West Japan.
• The museum’s closed days: What is on the official site are the closed days for 2027. Check the New Year and winter opening on the museum’s official site.
• Expressway tolls: Enter your vehicle type and the date and time in the toll search of West Nippon Expressway Company to check.
• In front of the airport terminal: Matsuyama Airport says “松山空港旅客ターミナル周辺の道路は、一部の降車レーンを除き駐停車禁止となっています。” (Stopping and parking are prohibited on the roads around the Matsuyama Airport passenger terminal, except in some drop-off lanes.)

What comes next for this article

Of the latitude and longitude of the points, points 1 to 8 are from map data such as OpenStreetMap, and point 9 is from the coordinates of the Ehime tourism site. The point numbers will be the same as the chapter numbers of the driving video. When the video is ready, you will be able to jump to each scene from the point headings. After we drive the route, we will add how the exit of Toyo-Tanbara IC looks and where the parking lot entrance is.