As any hitchhiker to the galaxy knows, one should always carry a towel. This holds especially true in Japan, where everyone does carry a small towel. Those towels come in handy after the ritual hand-washing at shrines (where they never hand you a towel) or in public bathrooms (where paper towels or hand driers are rare). Accordingly, there is a wide variety of hand towels to buy and you can choose your favorite motive or pattern. A free alternative are paper tissues (carrying some advertisement message) which are handed out by the handfuls in shopping streets. I usually don't leave the house without half a dozen packs of those, or if I do, I come back carrying half a dozen new ones.