You were expecting the Yellow Pumpkin?
Until recently Naoshima 直島 was one of many islands in the Seto Inland Sea 瀬戸内海 facing the twin declines of population and traditional industries. And then in the early 1990's its possible savior arrived in the form of the Benesse Corporation ベネッセコーポレーション, which chose Naoshima to be the ideal setting for its growing collection of modern art. Since then, more museums, art districts and artworks have popped up around the island, transforming what was once a backwater into a major tourist destination now known as the Benesse Art Site Naoshima (this BBC article gives an overview of how this came to be). Foreign tourists in particular, spurred on by influencers and Instagram, have made their way to Naoshima in recent years, to the point that when I visited and spoke in Japanese when renting a bike or ordering in restaurants, I would receive a chorus of 上手ですね's ("You're good at it!") from locals more accustomed to gaijin 外人struggling with the language barrier. In fact, if nothing else, my nearly monthlong trip to Shikoku 四国 was an ego booster when it came to 日本語 (spoiler alert: I'm not that proficient, actually).
I had decided in advance to visit Naoshima on the day with the best weather conditions in the forecast. Because the next edition of the Setouchi Triennale 瀬戸内海国際芸術祭 is currently being held, I thought it was best to reserve a timed entry ticket online for the Chichū Art Museum 地中美術館, which I did a week in advance. I chose a Friday because according to my phone's weather app it was going to be clear that day. But soon after making the booking, the forecast changed to rain, with a 100% chance of precipitation at one point. I wasn't looking forward to riding a bicycle in a downpour and so bought a poncho from a convenience store in preparation, but as things turned out, while it was cloudy during my visit, the predicted raindrops never materialized.
Riding the ferry from Takamatsu 高松 to Miyanoura 宮ノ浦, one of two ports on Naoshima. The journey took around 50 minutes:
Naoshima is probably most closely identified with
Yayoi Kusama's 草間彌生
Yellow Pumpkin 南瓜. But visitors arriving by ferry in Miyanoura are greeted by her Red Pumpkin 赤かぼちゃ first:
Naoshima Bath "I Love YU" 直島銭湯 I❤湯 is a colorful contemporary take on the Japanese bathhouse, but it didn't open until 13:00 so I contented myself with views of the exterior:
I soon rented a bike and started cycling toward the Yellow Pumpkin. The bicycle had an electric booster which came in handy when pedaling up some of the steep hills along Naoshima's scenic coastline:
Passing by the Chichu Garden, which has been planted with flowers and plants similar to those tended to by Claude Monet in his
garden in Giverny:
I arrived early enough that there weren't many visitors around. That wasn't the case in the afternoon when I passed by on my way back to Miyanoura:
My timed entry ticket was for 10:45, so after taking in the Yellow Pumpkin, I backtracked toward the Chichu Art Museum. I parked my bike in the lot in front of the museum's ticket center, and walked past the aforementioned garden to the museum's entrance:
The Chichu Art Museum has been described as a work of art in itself. Designed by celebrated architect
Tadao Andō 安藤忠雄, the gallery consists of a series of concrete-walled spaces located underground and lit by natural light:
The next gallery I went to was the one displaying five of Monet's water lily paintings:
https://medium.com/signifier/for-the-love-of-water-lilies-monets-final-masterworks-c591ad117e1c
"Atrium, Pale Blue" (1968); "Open Field" (2000); and "Open Sky" (2004),
James Turrell. Light itself presented as art, with three representative works spanning Turrell's career on display:


The museum cafe was too busy for me to find a seat, but I could still go outside onto the terrace to enjoy the Inland Sea panorama:
From the museum I cycled across the island (which didn't take very long) to Honmura 本村, the other port and the largest settlement on Naoshima. Along the way I stopped to admire
Another Rebirth 2005-N もうひとつの再生 2005-N by Kimiyo Mishima 三島喜美代, one of the many outdoor sculptures scattered around the island. In my photo it may appear to be an ordinary rubbish bin, but the dimensions of the installation were actually 450 x 350 centimeters, or 14.8 x 11.5 feet!
By this time I had worked up something of an appetite, so I parked the bike in the center of Honmura, and walked to the burger cafe Mai Mai マイマイ...:
...where I had the Naoshima Burger (deep-fried yellowtail fish), with a side of hash browns and washed down with a
Calpis カルピス:
Letting sleeping dogs lie:
Honmura is the site of the
Art House Project 家プロジェクト, where seven traditional buildings have been turned into works of art by contemporary artists. I purchased a multi-site ticket (giving admission to five of the houses) from the tourist counter at the ferry terminal. The first place I visited was Haisha はいしゃ, once the home and office of a local dentist.
Shinrō Ohtake 大竹伸朗 has turned it into a sculptured/graphic work of art, with its Statue of Liberty rising up through the levels of the house:
Next was Ishibashi 石橋, the former house of a family that prospered from salt making. It's now been restored to show a couple of
Hiroshi Senjū's 千住博 artworks:
Garden of Kii (emptiness), paintings inspired by scenes of the Inland Sea and a garden...:
...and
The Falls:
Walking on the street to the next art site:
As I strolled past the harbor I noticed this small shark swimming around in circles:
Next up was Kadoya 角屋, a house with almost 200 years of history. Here
Tatsuo Miyajima 宮島達男 has created
Sea of Time '98, which displays 125 digital LED counters in a shallow pool of water:
Gokaisho 碁会所 was built where a gathering place for
Go 囲碁 players once stood. The artist here is
Yoshihiro Suda 須田悦弘:
The final stop was my favorite of the Art House Project.
Hiroshi Sugimoto 杉本博司 renovated an old Edo period 江戸時代 Shintō shrine called Go'ō Shrine 護王神社:
Sugimoto also created an underground stone chamber which evokes Japan's
kofun era 古墳時代:
The view from the shrine:
All that art worked up another appetite, so I took a break to enjoy a crepe and a sparkling lemonade at a cafe called Sarrasin:
From Honmura I retraced my steps around the coast back to Miyanoura. Close to the port and Red Pumpkin stands
Naoshima Pavilion 直島パヴィリオン, created by
Sou Fujimoto 藤本壮介, an architect who designed
the world's largest wooden structure - see the latter now while you can at
Expo 2025 大阪・関西万博:
...and the uninhabited Ozuchi Island 大槌島:
For dinner that evening I had
katsudon at a restaurant inside Takamatsu Station 高松駅:
Baseball magazines in a bookstore inside the
TAKAMATSU ORNE shopping mall:
There is much more to see in Naoshima than what I accomplished in the few hours I was ashore. Travelers planning on visiting the island may want to consider spending a night there. And Naoshima isn't alone in accommodating contemporary art - islands such as Inujima 犬島, Teshima 豊島 and Shōdoshima 小豆島 also boast museums, installations and art projects to attract visitors to their shores. In all at least eleven other Inland Sea islands are being developed as art sites and are taking part in the Setouchi Triennale.
With my tight itinerary, however, a day trip to Naoshima had to suffice. The following day I would rent a car, and for the next 17 days wind my way around Shikoku. Hope to continue to see you on my travels...
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