September 2023 – Naoshima, Japan
After our pottery-centric first few days in Southern Honshu, we double down on the combination of art and nature.
We take the train to an art lovers dream escape, to a remote island in the Seto inland sea.
Naoshima is actually our main destination for this visit to Japan.
It is Ben’s intention to shift focus for a while, from environmental impact toward ushering in a new creative phase….
We have both been creative over the years: Ben with clay figure sculptures and drawing and piano and Peta with drawing, painting, and photography. We have also designed and built 3 houses and created 3 gorgeous gardens together, all major creative undertakings.
Artistic creativity had to take a backseat over the past years with environmental impact being the driving force, and our living a nomadic lifestyle.
What better place than Naoshima to kickstart a new creative phase…
We arrive by ferry and then rent bikes to go from one side of the island to the other, passing through forest and lush green countryside and riding alongside dramatic ocean landscapes.
Naoshima and a few other small islands used to be almost deserted sleepy fishing island and/or industrial sites for the fishing industry, until nearly 30 years ago, when Benesse (Japan’s largest education company) bought a big chunk of land on Naoshima’s south side. The company’s founder hired world-famous architect Tadao Ando, and over the next two decades, he designed museums and together with visionary artists and transformed Naoshima into a mecca for modern art and bold ultra modern minimalistic architecture.
The development of Naoshima, Teshima and a number of other small islands in Japan’s Seto Inland Sea into an international art destination is essentially the work of one visionary. But they’re also the culmination of his dual projects: to heal a beautiful landscape degraded by industrial activity, and to restore the body and soul of visitors through a perfect combination of contemporary art and architecture.
Museums are tucked into the landscape ~ some partially underground but all are barely visible to the eye and non disruptive to the stunning natural beauty of Naoshima.
Outdoors sculptures are scattered throughout the island with a natural playfulness and inviting one to interact with the art. Giant polka dot pumpkins, white metallic cubist forms, aluminum diamonds…
for a better view of this multi-angled white sculture, take a look here: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Ih_MzgdrWgY
Naoshima art island’s large trove of outdoor sculptures in nature is matched by an equally eclectic collection of indoor art.
The bold minimalist architecture of Japan’s foremost architect Tadao Ando is an art form in and of itself and provides the perfect setting for showing off art.
The Japanese architect’s work incorporates exposed reinforced concrete, wood, stone, organic forms, geometric shapes and light.
Imagine our surprise to find a series of prints and paintings by British artist David Hockney depicting his stay in very bright primary colors, at a Mexican hacienda! You might recall that our last home base was in the state of colorful Oaxaca, Mexico and here we are on a tiny island in the Seto inland sea of Japan plotting our return to Mexico for this November, visualizing a future home and then we see Hockney’s bold reference to Mexico!
The magnetic pull of a creative phase in Mexico is inescapable.
Coincidence?
As we are writing this post on our time in Japan in September, we are now currently in Mexico (as per our longterm plan) in San Miguel de Allende, where we have literally just closed on a little house here and are in the creative throes of redesigning the house.
It all started with our clear stated intentions (which were written in September, for our instagram posts and are recopied here).
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/p7qchpJxpo8
In between museum hopping and bike riding to discover the island’s open air sculptures, we also did a bit of exploring of the tiny town itself, which inevitably includes sampling the local delicacies. Here specifically some awesome tofu and sashimi…
I love isands and this one sounds perfect with the art, museums and wonderful food.
Darlene it was an exceptional treat! Also a surprise in so many ways. I certainly never knew that there was such a gorgeous coast in Japan and also finding all the dfifferent sculptures in the landscape was such fun. A wonderful combination of art and nature and Japanese food. Can’t go wrong!
Peta
Thank you guys for taking us to the most exotic places. My daughter and SIL are in Tokyo enjoying the sights, culture, and food. I’ll bet they never considered going here. I certainly haven’t. Now, it’s on my radar. Pita, I love your dramatic poses and color choices. They suit the backdrop.
Suzanne thanks so much for your comments. I think because we have been to Japan a few times together now and that Ben used to live there (5 years) we are able to delve further a field off the beaten track of most international tourists and its been the most rewarding time spent in Japan. More coming up soon…
Much like France, Japans treasures lie in the small and medium towns, but it takes time of course to get there, but well worth it. Also in many smaller places obviously language can be challenging for most foreign visitors.
Peta
Congratulations on buying a house in San Miguel! That’s super exciting. I had no idea you would not return to Zipolite. I’m glad you found something there, as it is my understanding that it has gotten quite gringofied and expensive. Now we know where to visit you next, one day! 🙂
Thanks LIesbet. We were open to anywhere in Mexico as becoming our next home base. Zipolite for sure is a place we love and we did return there for six weeks (starting mid January) and will no doubt return again. However, for investment purposes we decided that it was too high a risk from a climate point of view.
For sure San Miguel is more expensive than many other places in Mexico, but it is still significantly lower than being in the U.S. Many of the very upscale restaurants are expensive to be sure. And one of the reasons is that San Miguel was voted by Conde Naste for four years as being the best small city in the world!! So you can imagine how many good chefs, boutique hotels and upscale visitors that lured!
Initially we were put off by the relatively high number of Americans and Canadians who either spend half the year here or live here.. However, what we have come to realize is that with these gringos come many many beneefits, such as huge cutlural offerings etc.
The neighborhood we have a bought a house in though is on the outskirts of the center, and is very much a mixed neighborhood between locals and foreigners. There are lost of small tiendas, kids going to school, elderly people going about their day and yet we can walk to the center of San Miguel in twenty minutes. Anyhow this is all for a post, once we finally catch up on our travels.
Peta
Thank you for your detailed reply, Peta. I appreciate it. And, I eagerly wait for the full-blown version of the move and the experiences! 🙂
I’m sure I would love this place! What wonderful nourishment for the soul. I’ve always loved Yayoi Kusami’s work.
You would love it Alison yes. Such a unique combination of nature and art. Took a fair amount of effort and energy to get there, but well worth it. It’s one of those once in a life time destinations.
Peta
This certainly looks like a fun island to visit. It’s wonderful how you saw the Hockney paintings of Mexico when you were creating intentions to be in Mexico. It was interesting to read about San Miguel de Allende in one of your comments. We plan to explore Mexico in 2025, and that is one of the many places we want to visit.
Hi Cathy
Naoshima was a real treat. The serendipity of the Mexico themed paintings amplified our thoughts re Mexico. Such an unexpected set of visuals to encounter. We are currently in San Miguel, more to come on that once we have caught up with the blog.
You have many great adventures ahead of you in 2025 then. You might be interested to check our archives for our 2020 road trip through the Yucatan.
Peta
Great Peta, I will definitely look into your road trip through the Yucatan. I am still working on planning Japan and Bail for now. So much to see and do especially in Japan, even though I’ve been there twice before. But then I’ll have to dive right into Mexico because I might be looking to move out of the USA (if a certain someone gets elected) and I still want to be close to family.
Imagine me sitting in my house in San Miguel, doing some research about about Naoshima, and coming across your lovely post! I hope to run into you soon.