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#art #museums #japan #naoshima #teshima #travel #asia #digitalnomad #destinations #travelphotography

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Day 1

I took a few days to visit the art islands of Naoshima and Teshima. As it was told to me, these islands knew that they were declining some decades ago and sought to revitalize themselves by bringing in artists to create exhibits and art houses. It seems to have worked. There were plenty of people showing up by ferry, which is cheap and only 700-800 Yen.

When I arrived at the Naoshima port, I stored my luggage and walked across the street to one of the ebike rental shops and rented a bike for the day for 1,500 Yen. I could have stored my luggage with one of the shops for 500 Yen with ebike rental instead of putting in the storage for 800 Yen, but whatever. I then went to the southern part of the island to check out some of the installations. Unfortunately for a lot of the museums, photography is not allowed inside, but while I was waiting for my 1PM New Naoshima Art Museum slot, I stopped by a cafe overlooking the straight.

You can sit in the sofa chairs for 500 Yen. On my second trip to the cafe later, I sat next to someone doing a small painting of the scenery.

I thought that the little cup they gave for the milk was really cute and the milk dripping down the side looked cool. It was so tiny!

From there I went around the corner to the museum. You couldn't take pictures of the inside, but at the cafe, they had a nice view.

Around the museum are some other works as well:

There's actually a sign saying not the enter the area, but I didn't say anything to the guy. 😂 Above this portion was the rest of the hill that it was in, with a sitting area on the slope so you can look out at the ocean.

There are two giant pumpkins on the island, one by the port and the other on the southern/eastern end. They were quite popular photo spots!

This is one of the featured pieces at the Bennesse House, which each of the phrases lighting up in different colors. Each phrase is some verb + and live/die.

Another one of the outdoor exhibits. This part is inside, but there was another another pond area filled with these. A plaque said that they were originally displayed at an exhibit in France decades ago and that the balls are made from industrial slag refuse. I took this photo because it made me think of raytracing demos in computing 🤓.

There's also a chunky otter living in the water.

And near the guest house I was staying in was this....ball structure? There is an area inside that you can go and it may have been bike parking or something?

Day 2

The second day on Naoshima was a lot more tranquil. I mostly walked some paths, visited a few art houses, and hung out in cafes. You really only need to stay one night in Naoshima and leave in the morning at most, but it was nice to have a slow day.

The sign reads: > This <gate> is built in the Buddhism-Medical Gate style with tiled roofing. The inscription “Auspicious day, April 1701” on the ridge-end tile suggested it was built at the same time as the main hall and reception hall. The plaque was handwritten by Takatsuji Chunagon Yonaga. It features the ex-Naoshima Lord Takahara's family crest & ship's seal. It was donated during the Anei era by Takahara Jirobei Toshisada, a samurai of the Kyushu Kuroda clan, a retainer of the ex- Naoshima Lord Takahara. By Naoshimacho Board of Education

After that I found a nearby trail and had to explore it! And inside are two figures. I couldn't get a good photo due to the reflection, but here's one of them.

You can hear the birds chirping here, despite this place being so close to town.

(If the video doesn't load you can get it here). I'm still trying to find the best way to host video clips and such.

And at the top is a shrine with the guardian doggos.

Who's a good, handsome guardian deity? You are!

Further on I found the local community center. In the small building to the side I heard some women talking. They seem to have a lot of local events and activities for the locals to attend here.

you may need to scroll for the vertical images The building is pretty cool in its design. It has a large mount of dirt and moss on the side of the structure to help keep it cool and the top part is an air intake to bring in cool air.

Near one of the other art buildings I saw some of these interesting pieces. Kaneki-kun, is that you? I have no idea what this is.

More Walking Around

A lot of the old houses on the islands have really nice gardens that you can often see or take a peek in to. This one stood out to me from the old style Japanese door / gate opening into a brightly lit garden.

Oh look, a random path up a hill. Where does it go?

An almost forgotten little shrine? Cool! And golden hour is coming out. Nice.

A random shrine path next to a cement mixer? Sure, why not?

I eventually made my way a bit further south of where I was staying. I walked about 20-25 minutes to another settlement section near a port. It wasn't the coziest of places to chill, but I enjoyed the trainquility a bit. If the embed doesn't work (I'm working on how to show short videos), see the post on Pixelfed.

From here I went and ate some Ramen, then walked back. And found another path to walk up

Looking back from the top here gives a good view.

This shot came out quite nice. And the cat wouldn't leave me alone. I saw it chilling on the steps on my way up, but as I was leaving, it wanted attention, food, or both, and wouldn't let me leave. So, I had to give scritches for a while. Then I'd take a few steps and it'd run in front of my legs for attention. Leaving took a bit 😂.

Day 3 – Teshima

I left early the next morning and some of the other guests were kind enought to chase me down at the bus stop and give me my phone charger. Thank you, kind strangers! I took the passenger boat to Teshima and rented an e-bike here and began wandering around. I was able to drop my luggage off at the same place where I rented the ebike, right by the port. There are other places nearby, but this one is literally right outside the door.

First stop was a house turned exhibit. Photos were allowed in the outer areas. I thought the cafe out front was a cute little spot. One thing that I've noticed in Japan is that there isn't as much outdoor seating, so it was nice to find it where I could! One of the featured pieces inside was a type of collage arrangement of a famous Shunda artwork, which was ealy Japanese erotic artwork. The had a book there of some of the famous works, including the original of the piece on the site.

I then went around and found some out of the way spots, including this shrine up the top of a path. Behind the shrine was another gate that opened out to the view. It feld like almost transitioning into another space, so I made sure that I went through the tori gate in both directions so I wouldn't get stuck in the spirit realm or something.

After that I stopped by The Factory, an old factory turned cafe, for some food and coffee, but mostly a place to sit. It had a cool vibe to it.

From there I began making my way to a portion of town more in the center of the island, stopping by the interesting sites along the way.

There was a sign that seemed to say this was important or something? It looked like a house though?

Arriving into the small town. It seems like it must be local politics season. A lot of towns have posters like the blue one back there.

A little further up the way is another restaurant with a nice outdoor area. Too bad I already ate!

Ok, let's continue up the path. I was walking and didn't mind since I had some time before I needed to get to the Teshima Art Museum, but I probably should have taken the bike. These old buildings stood out to me. They look not-quite dilapidated, but being reclaimed by nature. I'm not too surprised given the elderly distribution of the islands.

Next up, the Guardians of Gains! These dudes are jacked! Only the fittest are allowed in, thus, I could not enter.

Islands man. Fortunately, I did not see any wild boar.

And now I'm arriving to my objective: Le Forêt de Murmures This is an art installation by a Christian Boltanski, a French artist. In the forest, there are hundreds of bells with plastic pieces hanging down them with the names of lost loved ones. It was an incredibly somber and pensive moment that I tried not to let be ruined by constantly walking through cob webs. Fortunately, I was able to find a place to sit, though I had to leave earlier than I would have liked for the museum entry. This was my favorite exhibit out of all of them.

There was something somber and comforting in seeing so many names. Sad, because so many people with lost loved ones, but comforting in knowing that you're not alone, and warm in knowing that these people were remembered and their names written down. At the same time, the exhibit features natural wear from the environment. The bells will wear, the names will wear and wipe away (though they are collected). For now, the memories of loved ones persists and it made this place feel sacred.

If the embed doesn't load, the video clip is here.

It was also caterpillar season, so there were tons of these little guys hanging down, beginning to make their cacoons. I wanted to get a video, but my phone can only do manual focus on camera mode, not video mode. Because technology.

I eventually made my way back into town and rode down the hill toward the Teshima Art Museum.

Next I stopped at a little flat area above the museum with a food truck while I waited for my entry time. The museum is the white blob you see toward the bottom. Photos are not allowed inside, so here's the website for the Teshima Art Museum. In case the embed doesn't load, here's the link.

The space itself echoes sounds very much. When you go in, you are advised that this is a no speaking zone and no cameras are allowed. It's very tranquil and relaxing in a way. You hear a lot of sounds from the outside, like the birds, and when people are in certain places you can hear the quiet ruffling of their clothes as they move, even if they are being quiet. Unfortunately, though, it was about to rain and I had other places that I would have liked to have gone. But I was told by a travel friend that a good thing to do if you can is to reserve a hotel on the island and stay at the museum at night or in the evening because everyone else will be gone and you won't be forced to leave. You'll have the space all to yourself. I couldn't do that, but I'm glad that I got to go.

From there I went down the hill an saw Les Archives du Cœur, another no camera piece. You enter into a dark hallway with mirrors all along the walls and a single incadescent lightbulb suspended in the middle, lighting and fading with the elevated sounds of the heartbeats that are recorded. Outside of the exhibit area you can see whose heartbeat is playing; you can also have yours recorded as well. The sound inside ranges from flowing fluids to anxious, elevated pounding as the sound reverberates all around you.

From there I began riding back as the rain started coming in. I decided to continue on to some other interesting exhibits and arrived quite wet. I was looking forward to seeing this exhibit just from how cool it looked. It's three old noodle making machines interwoven with red threads. I'm not sure if the red threads are related to the threads of fate? But I liked how the strings wrapped around portions of the machines, almost like they were being restrained.

I noticed on this machine that it looked like they polished and oiled the gears, while the rest was still dusty and aged. It's hard to make out because my phone loves over-exaggerating reds. The threads even go up into the attic space.

Just outside the coast and Udon shop that I went to was this very pretty looking house.

And the final exhibit of the day. I've forgotten the notes on these, but each of the children sculptures have a different geo-coordinate on the backs of their shirts.

And finally, it's-a-me. I wanted to get a closer photo, but it was raining again, so this sufficed.

I finished off the night in Uno, a port city on the mainland, after taking a passenger boat directly from Teshima. I found a cool looking Izakaya, a bit dirty, super smokey with people smoking inside, and run by a funny, friendly uncle and his wife. I asked him about the baby face and he said that it was his grandson. He seems to be very pround. Just look at those massive cheeks!