This japanese towel is dyed using traditional hand dyeing techniques unique to Japan called "Chusen".The back side is the same design.The back side is not white.You can use it without worrying about the front and back.
»About "Chusen"

≪ Design ≫

"Weights" ("Hundou")
This design is called the "weights design".
Weights are used to measure the weight of an object manually. These tools, used to weigh gold, silver, copper, and so on, were an auspicious motif since they symbolized wealth. The weights used were different from those common nowadays, as seen in this design.
Because it represents gold, it is used widely as an auspicious motif.
Moreover, on contemporary Japanese maps, it is used as a symbol to denote a bank.

≪ Color ≫

Pale Greenish Blue (Asagi-iro)
"Asagi iro", literally "pale spring onion color", takes its name from the green tinged with blue of a spring onion, and is an extremely pale blue.
In the Edo Period, material of this color was apparently often used by warriors from the lower ranks to line their "haori" jackets. This clothing was known as "asagi ura", meaning "asagi lining", and lower ranking warriors who wore "haori" lined with cloth of this color were called "asagi ura" to make fun of them as country bumpkins.
This pale greenish blue color is famous as the color of the "haori" jackets worn by the Shinsengumi, a police force active in the late Edo Period.