Ropeway Dori is one of the smartest, most enticing streets in Matsuyama, with many fine shops, restaurants, and cafés, and a constant stream of people passing through. As you walk up the street, you’ll find a long shop on the left called Ehimesm. This rather strange name is intended to be read Ehime-ism, which means the quality of being from Ehime prefecture. Ehimesm is a combination of exhibition hall and shop where you can find many of Ehime’s products, and purchase something if it takes your fancy.
Towels from Imabari are the main focus of the store. Towel making in Ehime started in 1894 using the pure water from Mt. Ishizuchi and the advanced weaving technologies available even then. Today, these are some of the best towels in the world, and the Imabari Towel label is becoming known as symbol of quality and style. Ehimesm presents a stunning variety of designs to suit every taste. There are 1,100 types of towel on display, arrayed attractively on long towel rails that show off their colours and patterns as you would experience them in your home. Feel free to take them off the rail and unfold them—as the label on a creamy soft hand towel says, these are “Towels that want to be used”. Every need is catered for, from pocket towels to American-size bath towels.
Considerable ingenuity has been brought to bear in developing new applications for toweling. The neck scarves made of absorbent cotton fabric make stylish and very practical accessories for nearly every mode of dress. I wouldn’t be without mine in summer to keep the sun off my neck and to dab my face. The neckties made of tightly woven towel are popular too. Like the scarves, they come in a range of colours and they’re washable, so they’ll always be clean! Like all the products at Ehimesm, they come with attractive but minimalist packaging.
The delicate-seeming but robust ceramics of Tobe are also featured. You can choose from highly practical tableware, to elegant vases and other items intended for decoration. There are many other attractive interior decorations suitable for gifts or souvenirs, including small works of art fashioned from old painted wood from the islands in the Seto Inland Sea.
Thanks to its mild climate, Ehime produces excellent fruit and other foodstuffs. Citrus fruits, collectively called mikan in Japanese, are a representative product, and Ehimesm sells a variety of bottled mikan juice, each with its own characteristics. You can also buy sophisticated sauces and salad dressings from the popular Matsuyama tapas restaurant PePe.
Ehimesm is an airy, stylish shop where you can browse the attractive displays at leisure. If you register bemusement or curiosity to know more, the staff are very quick to help. The Japanese staff can manage a little English, and one of the staff is Chinese.
Thanks to the range of products and prices, Ehimesm is a good place to buy souvenirs and gifts. If you’ve enjoyed the sights and atmosphere of Matsuyama, the highly creative postcard sets from the Matsuyama 1-Coin Art Project make excellent mementos.
This is one stop on Ropeway Dori you won’t want to miss.
