This study examined how local public experiment and research institutes before World War II impacted the modernization of regional industries. It also analyzed engineers who flourished through the career and activities of Toshiharu Sugawara, the leader of the Industrial Training School of Ehime Prefecture and the Dyeing and Weaving Institute of Ehime Prefecture.
To this end, this study focused on the towel industry in Imabari. The findings revealed that the establishment of a school system to cultivate engineers in the Meiji and Taisho Eras, the activities of low- and middle-ranking officials who studied at those schools, and the establishment of local public experiment and research institutes played an important role in the technological and human resource development of local light industries. As shown in the case of Toshiharu Sugawara, who became an official after studying spinning technology at Tokyo Higher Technical School, engineers engaged in technological and human resource development greatly contributed to the activities of local public experiment and research institutes before World War II.
Because of the development and improvement of towel weaving machines and the cultivation of towel manufacturers by Toshiharu Sugawara, the Imabari area, which had held a subordinate position in towel manufacturing before World War II, became Japan’s top towel-producing district.
