Naoshima Island: Travel Guide (4.4★)

A yellow pumpkin covered in black dots sits at the end of a concrete pier, with the Seto Inland Sea all around it. That pumpkin is Yayoi Kusama’s, and it is probably the best-known picture of Naoshima. The rest of the island is quieter than that photo suggests. It is a fishing island with steep green hills, small ports and old wooden houses, and museums have been built into its slopes.

Kagawa’s tourism material describes Naoshima as an island of art museums, modern architecture and outdoor sculptures. That is accurate, but it doesn’t tell you how a visit actually goes. You end up planning around ferry times, bus loops and timed museum entries. Most of the art is on the south coast, and it is spread out on purpose.

Crossing the Inland Sea

Every visit starts with a ferry ride. There are two main ways to get there:

• From Okayama: take the JR Uno Line from Okayama Station to Uno Station. The ferry terminal is a short walk away, and the crossing to Miyanoura Port takes about 20 minutes.
• From Takamatsu: ferries leave Takamatsu Port, a few minutes’ walk from JR Takamatsu Station. The car ferry takes longer than the high-speed boat, which runs on a separate timetable.

Sailings run less often than you might expect, especially in the evening. Check the return times before you leave the mainland. Miyanoura is where most ferries dock. Kusama’s red pumpkin stands on the waterfront there, and the bus stop is right outside the terminal.

Chichu’s Timed Tickets

Chichu Art Museum sets the pace for your whole trip. Tadao Ando built it almost entirely underground, so from outside you mostly see concrete walls and grass. Inside, light comes down from openings in the roof. On a cloudy day the rooms are a completely different colour from how they look in full sun.

The museum holds three permanent bodies of work:

• Claude Monet’s late Water Lilies, in a white room you enter in your socks
• James Turrell’s light installations
• Walter De Maria’s room, built around a large granite sphere and a broad flight of steps

Entry works by timed reservation, booked online in advance, and slots can sell out. Book Chichu first and plan the rest of the day around it. Prices and booking are on the official Benesse Art Site Naoshima website. Staff keep the rooms quiet, and photos are not allowed inside the galleries.

The Lee Ufan Museum is a short walk down the hill and also designed by Ando. Benesse House Museum is further along the coast road and works as a hotel and gallery in one. The yellow pumpkin’s pier is near Benesse House, on the beach below.

Honmura’s House Projects

Honmura is the old town on the east coast. Here the art is inside ordinary-looking buildings. The Art House Project turned old houses, a shrine and a former dentist’s office into permanent works, all spread across a few blocks of narrow lanes with dark wooden walls.

Places to look for:

• Minamidera: Ando built the building around a James Turrell work that you first experience in complete darkness. Give your eyes time to adjust.
• Go’o Shrine: photographer Hiroshi Sugimoto rebuilt this shrine with a glass staircase that connects the shrine above ground to a stone chamber below it.
• Haisha: the former dentist’s office, transformed by Shinro Ohtake.
• Kadoya: a restored house with a work by Tatsuo Miyajima set in water.

The Ando Museum is in Honmura too. It is a traditional wooden house with a concrete interior inside it. Walking between the houses is half the point. The lanes are residential, so keep your voice down.

Miyanoura After the Galleries Close

The museums close in the late afternoon, and evenings on the island are quiet. Spend yours in Miyanoura. Shinro Ohtake designed the public bathhouse I♥湯 (“I love yu”; yu means hot water). It is a working sentō, decorated with mosaic tiles, collected objects and a small elephant statue.

Bathhouse etiquette is the same here as anywhere in Japan. Wash thoroughly at the seated showers before you get into the bath. Keep your small towel out of the water. Some places have rules about tattoos, so check at the entrance. Sitting in the hot water while the port goes quiet is a good way to end a day of walking.

Getting Around Naoshima Without Missing the Bus

Most of your time goes into getting from one place to another, and that’s where visitors run into problems. The town bus runs between Miyanoura, Honmura and the Tsutsujiso area near Benesse House. Past that point, a free shuttle runs to the museums along the south coast, where private cars are restricted. Buses get full when a ferry has just come in. If you’re carrying luggage, get to the stop early.

Bicycles are the other option. There are rental shops near Miyanoura Port, and many rent electric-assist bikes. They make a real difference, because the hills between the ports and the museums are steep.

A few habits make the day easier:

• Leave bags in the coin lockers or luggage services at Miyanoura before you head out.
• Keep a ferry timetable on your phone. Missing the last boat means finding a room on the island at short notice.
• Have cash and an IC card ready. Small island businesses don’t always take cards.
• Expect closures. The major museums usually close one day a week, often Monday, but this varies. Check the official calendar before you choose your date.

How Long Naoshima Deserves

A day trip is possible, but it only lets you see either the south-coast museums or Honmura properly, not both. With one night, you can spend a morning on the Chichu side and an afternoon in Honmura’s lanes, and still be in the bath in Miyanoura that evening. Accommodation ranges from Benesse House’s rooms above the galleries to small guesthouses near the ports, and it fills up early in busy seasons.

Every three years Naoshima also hosts part of the Setouchi Triennale, the Inland Sea art festival. Festival years bring new works and many more visitors. Outside those years the island is calmer, ferries are less crowded, and it’s easier to linger at the yellow pumpkin’s pier.