A weekend on Naoshima art island, Japan

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Naoshima art island, Japan, is an off-the-beaten path destination perfect for a second visit to Japan. Sculptures, installations and modern art galleries are everywhere. It’s thoroughly immersive, wholly different and somewhere you will never forget. I recommend staying in Naoshima for a long weekend, rather than trying to rush it.

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Please note that this post is from 2017 and needs deleting and rewriting as it’s from before I knew how to blog/write. I’m in the process of rewriting and republishing all my older posts. Watch this space!

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Things to do on Naoshima art island

The Art House Project

Your first port of call should be the Art House Project, in Honmura village. It’s a collection of abandoned houses and buildings that have been converted into art experiences.

The standout one for me was Minamidera, a building containing a ‘light experience’ by James Turrell. It has to be experienced to be understood but basically, it involves stumbling round in pitch darkness and your eyes adjusting to it. But in a really good way.

Another of my favourites in the project was a modernised old Shinto shrine. It’s connected to an underground chamber by a glass staircase. You can squeeze down a narrow tunnel into the chamber to see how the light reflects from another angle.

Take in the beach and scenery

Naoshima has fantastic big skies, sandy beaches and lush forests. It’s hard to know where scenery ends and art begins.

The island was once only known for quarrying, but art has breathed a new lease of life into it. Quarrying has also inspired a running theme in the art on Naoshima: the concept of removing something from the earth and creating a new space. The combination of the deliberate and natural to create art was highly impressive.

The giant pumpkin by Yayoi Kusama is probably the most iconic piece of art on Naoshima. It looks out across the sea from a vantage point on a small pier on the beach. I’m not massively enthralled with it to be honest, maybe more so because I’d just seen so many other incredible things in the Art House Project. But it’s worth a look.

The walk along the beach is lovely, too.

Visit the various art museums

Nothing is a gallery on Naoshima. It’s always a museum. I decided there’s a reason for this: a gallery conjures up images of paintings hanging on walls. Not what Naoshima is about.

Chichu Art Museum is built into the hillside and is a work of art in itself. Ando Tadao designed it (they’re obsessed with him, and rightly so) and he made it so that it only uses natural light. This has to be seen to be appreciated. Ando also has his own little museum near the Art House Project, showcasing more of his work with concrete and light.

Chichu’s standout pieces for me are James Turrell’s Open sky and Walter De Maria’s room of geometric shapes. It’s actually best not to describe them because it’s impossible to do them justice (and will only sound pretentious if I try). It also had some Monet pieces displayed in the most fantastic light imaginable.

The other main museum is the Lee Ufan Museum, home of lots of work by Korean artist Lee Ufan but again built by our friend Ando. Like all the other Naoshima art museums, it plays with light and has lots of sweeping concrete.

You’re not allowed to take photos inside any of the museums, even without flash. This isn’t a bad thing though, because photographs wouldn’t show how the pieces really were, given that they were all experiential, playing with light and shade and tricking the eye. Luckily, there are loads of art installations outdoors so you can get some photos of those.

Enjoy the island views from the Chichu Museum Cafe

I recommend having lunch in the very nice Scandinavian-feeling café in the Chichu Art Museum, which has full-length windows so you can look out at the sea while you eat.

I was treated to a bizarre spectacle of looking out into the sunshine and seeing a huge snow cloud blowing towards us across the sea. You could actually see it approaching as if it was a boat. 

Eat okonomiyaki

It’s a well-known fact that island air makes you hungry (is it?). Naoshima is only small and after the ridiculous, overwhelming amount of food choices across the rest of Japan, it is actually a relief to only have a handful of restaurants to choose from.

Near to where I recommend staying, you have a cosy little place serving my all-time favourite Japanese dish, okonomiyaki (Japanese savoury pancakes). If you haven’t had okonomiyaki, you haven’t lived. 

The chef/owner (of Okonomiyaki Umikko) is an absolutely lovely man and despite the language barrier you’ll have no issues ordering okonomiyaki. I ate there twice (only slightly influenced by the fact that it was January and everything else was shut!). It was such a cosy yet simple restaurant: a hygge Japanese experience if ever there was one.

Fun fact: okonomiyaki translates as ‘as you like it’.

Have a glimpse of real Japanese island life

Going to a tiny island in Japan gives a good insight into what life is like outside big cities. What life was like in Japan years ago. It’s slower, simpler, but still thoroughly Japanese. Naoshima is still full of little fishing hamlets, despite tourism obviously playing a big part in employment there.

It’s hard to get across in a blog post how absolutely incredible and unforgettable Naoshima is. You may have noticed my usual mildly sarcastic tone has gone from this post. That’s because it’s impossible to not just be totally humbled by Naoshima.

For an island of only about three square miles and 3,000 people, there’s more art and culture there than in some major international cities. The ratio of art to ‘not art’ is ridiculous. You start wondering if everything is art because there’s very little divide between art and normal life, if that makes sense and doesn’t sound too pretentious (it deffo does).

Naoshima art island, Japan: useful information

How to get there (and away)

Get the shinkansen (bullet train) to Okayama. You can then change to a normal train to Uno. A ferry from Uno ferries you (literally) to Naoshima’s port town of Miyanoura. When leaving Naoshima, I got the ferry to Takamatsu (to eat udon noodles). The ferry journey and the train journey from Takamatsu to Okayama are both spectacular. Okayama is on the main shinkansen line so you can get to wherever you’re off to from there.

Where to stay

I stayed at Season 2, a self-catering apartment (‘minshuku’) in a small fishing hamlet. It had a good shower and was very clean, but if you wanted to go swankier, there’s the Benesse House Hotel.

How to get around

Buses and your own feet can get you everywhere you need to go on the island.

When to go

Apparently, it gets totally heaving in summer on Naoshima. I loved the brooding skies and crisp air in January, although it’s worth bearing in mind that not all the restaurants will be open then. But you do increase your chances of getting some of the art experiences all to yourself.

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If you enjoyed this post, you may also like my other Japan blog posts:

• Everything you need to know before visiting Japan
• Two-week itinerary options for Japan
• How to spend 3 days in Tokyo: an itinerary
• Things to do on Miyajima island, home of the red shrine and tame deer
• 10 things to do in Okayama
• 20 unique things to do in Tokyo
• Discover off-the-beaten-track Tokyo
• Discover Himeji Castle
• How to spend one day in Takamatsu
• Kobe – how to spend one day in Japan’s floral city
• Tokyo quirky train-themed things to do
• How to watch sumo in Tokyo, Japan. 

And if you’ve used one of my travel guides and enjoyed it, you can also buy me a drink. Cheers. 

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