By Mikans For Mikans
Imabari is a port city that lies on the coast of Ehime Prefecture, facing the Seto Inland Sea. Not only does Imabari have a varied landscape with green mountainous areas and a world-class archipelagic Shimanami-Tobishima area, but it is also widely known for its towel and ship building industries. A few years ago, the old city merged with a number of other districts to form the second largest city in Ehime, with a population of about 172,000 people; however the old districts’ distinct identities still remain. Ehime was only connected to Honshu, the main island of Japan, about 10 years ago.
Please see http://www.city.imabari.ehime.jp// and http://iciea.jp/e_index.html for more information.
Although Imabari does not have a huge, bustling nightlife, there are still a few places to go to have a good time with friends. Matsumoto-cho is a bar district in the downtown area of Imabari that features a large variety of bars, but beware of snack bars (hostess bars). The bars in Matsumoto-cho tend to have table fees, or pricey drinks.