Oh my gourd, it's Naoshima, the art island

Trip Diary Day 13 - 10 April 2019

Check out Episode 10 of our Epic Family Road Trip Across Japan.

Today we were going to catch a ferry to Naoshima Island. Shima means island. Is Naoshima Island a tautology? Should I just say “Naoshima”? I think I’ll quit before my head hurts. So, yes, today we planned to visit the island of Naoshima. Often called the Art Island. Not because it is a work of natural beauty. Although it is quite a fine little island. It is because there are a number of art galleries and art installations dotted all over the island. Mostly contemporary modern art but some of Monet’s large waterlily paintings hang in the Chichu Art Museum. Is Monet considered modern? I suspect even early 20th century works are considered modern, so probably. I was most looking forward to seeing the giant pumpkins.

Lima Coffee Roasters

But because we’re us and not on some packaged tour that runs to a schedule we weren’t going to catch the ferry to Naoshima till 12.40. There is nothing like giving yourself as little time as possible to see everything. We were still out by 10.30 so we could get coffee before catching the ferry because coffee is the most important meal of the day. We drove to Lima Coffee Roasters, a funky little cafe with a big coffee roaster in the front window. A young woman served us. Three caps so Georgia could have a sip and then I could finish a second coffee. Yeah, the coffee is that good. I make a nice strong cap every morning at home but I’d rarely have a second. But there is something about these awesome holiday caps where I think, yeah, I need another. Lima have a chair hammock which looks lovely and relaxing which Brandon and Georgia fought over. Parking was only 200 yen. We drove to Capoli Doughnuts but they were closed. More about Capoli in the next post.

Shikoku Kisen Ferry To Naoshima

After dropping the car off back at hotel we walked 15 minutes to the ferry terminal to catch the Shikoku Kisen ferry company ferry to Naoshima. Naoshima return fares were 990 yen and 520 yen for adults and children respectively. Brandy was free again. Most things are free for kids under 6. I dread the next time we come back to Japan and have to start paying for Brandy too. It’s only 50 smooth sailing minutes to Naoshima. It was a big boat. Not as big as a cruise liner but bigger than a Manly ferry. Big enough to carry a couple of dozen cars and trucks. We went to the top deck an open area at first. Long enough to leave port and wave Takamatsu good bye. The Seto Sea was busy. A few other ferries coming and going, fishing boats and merchant container ships. It was invigorating, meaning bloody freezing, up top for a while so after a few photos we went down to the seating area. The seating area had row of bucket seats - like rows of airline seats but instead of only being half a dozen seats across each row had about 30 seats. Potentially seating for hundreds but there were only a dozen or so passenger. It was very empty so we were spoilt for choice as far as seating went. There was a full complement of cars and trucks down below though. This being a Japanese ferry even ship’s toilets warm and comfortable. I reluctantly dragged myself from my nice warm throne as we arrived in Miyanoura Port on Naoshima.

Takamatsu, Shikoku, to Naoshima Island by ferry

Miyanoura Port, Naoshima, Kagawa, Japan

There was a souvenir shop and cafe at the ferry terminal. It reminded me of the Manly Ferry terminal. Manly doesn’t have a big red pumpkin next to the wharf though. This was the first of Yayoi Kusama’s pumpkins. The kids clambered through the pumpkin a few times but the rain started coming down so we decided to go to 7-Eleven for an umbrella. Even a small island like Naoshima has a 7-Eleven. The konbini was only a block or two up from the wharf. Umbrella’s deployed we wandered around looking for somewhere to have lunch but in the end we went back to the 7-Eleven for sandwiches.

Getting around Naoshima

I hadn’t thought much about how we’d get around the island. I discovered from the limited research I had done there were buses to other parts of the island. So we went back to the port to find the bus schedule for rides to other parts of the island. Maybe I should have done some more in depth research into the island transport. The buses were very infrequent - especially for the limited time we had. No taxis either. Michelle starting to get the shits with my research. Research for me generally comprises turning up somewhere and hoping for the best. It was becoming apparent turning up and stumbling on convenient public transport wasn’t going to work this time. Then we saw a couple of brightly colored little Daihatsus with dots on them. Conveniently they appeared to be rentals. I thought, this might work. Unfortunately there didn’t appear to be anywhere to rent them from. We wandered down past some shops. Poor Michelle really had the shits with my organisational skills by then. I said, lets go into the bike rental shop, Ougiya Rent-a-Cycle, because they might know where to rent the cars. Not only did they know, they did. 1000 yen per hour. 2000 for 2 hours. A veritable bargain. Michelle was concerned the process would take too long but it only took 5 minutes. It was possibly the quickest easiest rental I’ve done. The ferry charges 3400 yen each way to bring a car so 2000 yen for 2 hours was, I thought, a good deal. I’d still be tempted to bring the car next time though. Then we could’ve rolled straight off the boat and into touristing. The Daihatsu was a tiny two door hatchback. I hadn’t been in a car where we had to flip down the front seats to get to the back in years. There was almost zero luggage space. Even our camera bags had to be nursed on laps. It sounded like a Mack truck firing cannons though. But it worked. Sluggish and noisy, but it did work. The woman from the rental shop gave me what looked like a garage remote control. Entry to a secret bat cave I hoped. “Press this button when we you get back and I will come to you” she said. Oki doki.

Naoshima - Pumpkins and more pumpkins

Flower Obsession, National Gallery of Victoria, 2017

The secret to driving around islands and not getting lost is basically pick a direction and drive. You eventually arrive back where you started. This works for almost any sized island. On a teeny island it might be minutes to get back. On a slightly larger island, like Australia, it might take some weeks to get back to your starting point. We were going to loop around the island by driving up through the middle and around to our first stop on the Benesse House side of the island, Yayoi Kusama's yellow pumpkin. We’d already seen the red pumpkin at the port. I noticed our little red car had black dots on it just like the pumpkin. I was starting to think that the colour scheme wasn’t a coincidence. Yayoi Kusama had an exhibition at the National Gallery of Victoria in 2017 as part of the Triennial. An installation called Flower Obsession. The installation was a replica of an average home but every surface was covered with poppy like flowers. This installation, a yellow pumpkin on the end of a jetty, is simply called “Yellow Pumpkin”. If I’d named it I’d go for something more dramatic like “Oh my gourd it’s a pumpkin”.

There were a few people wandering around and taking photos. Nothing like the huge numbers we encountered in Kyoto. I think I will compare every tourist site we ever visit now to Kyoto. There were maybe 10 or 15 people strung out along the beach, posing in front of the pumpkin or wandering the gardens dotted with colourful statues. While we taking photos of the kids in front of the pumpkin an older Australian guy chatted to Michelle about the museums and art in the area. He suggested the Chichu Art Museum to see the Monet but at 2000 yen per adult when we have to leave in an hour it didn’t seem worth it. If I hadn’t seen Monet’s other waterlilies elsewhere it would have been pretty dumb to miss it though.

There are at least three art museums and galleries on the island. Back in the 80s an eccentric billionaire, Tetsuhiko Fukutake, decided he wanted a place for children to gather. Something culturally and artistically significant. From that germ of an idea he founded the Benesse Foundation and started the project to artify Naoshima and a couple of other nearby islands. Now we have pumpkins. We wandered the beach and the gardens looking at the painted sculptures before jumping back into our tiny clown car to finish the circuit of the island.

We roared back to the port and Ougiya Rent-a-Cycle to drop off the car, scaring a couple of cyclists on the way with the noise. Parked and pressed the remote button. The woman came running. She checked the car, gave us the thumbs up, and we crossed the road to the Ferry terminal. We bought some of the regional salty specials - donuts, ice cream and salty caramel sweets. Before Naoshima was famous as an Art island it was known for producing sea salt. What could be a more obvious use for salt than ice cream? The salt ice cream is called Sola Shio. It has a slightly salty flavour and very tasty. We ate it all in the terminal. The ferry arrived just before 5 and we queued to get on board. There were more people going back to Takamatsu than came over on the ferry we came in. Still only a couple of dozen people though. A full complement of cars again though. I just sat back and chilled on the way back because I wasn’t feeling well. Stupid cold. Georgia and Brandon ran amok.

Honetsukidori Ikkaku Takamatsu

Michelle suggested a udon restaurant about 13 minutes walk away from out hotel for dinner. I suggest we walk there because I couldn’t be arsed driving. Of course the restaurant was closed. Michelle was cranky at me for not driving. We walked back to the main drag. Another 10 minute walk because we couldn’t find taxis. I wasn’t having the most successful day getting around wise. I kept making transport decisions that in retrospect were only going to get me in strife. We Googled what was open nearby and settled on a chicken restaurant open till 11 called Honetsukidori Ikkaku Takamatsu. It was only 7.30 but the later a place stays open the more chance we have of getting in. There was a queue at the door. Another good sign. We waited for 10 minutes. The cheerful waiter gave us an English menu. We ordered the two styles of fried chicken and some sides like pickled cucumber, soup, rice, fried chicken skin. It was all very delicious. The chicken wasn’t fried as such. I reckon it was barbecued or roasted similarly to Portuguese chicken. But however it was prepared it was second only to previous night’s izakaya. The two best meals on our trip so far within 24 hours of each other and in little Takamatsu (not really that little). An amazing price too, only 4170 yen.

The previously hibernating taxis magically appeared as soon as we spilled out on to the street so we were able to get a taxi home. A friendly happy driver. Often our Japanese drivers are older gentlemen in their 60s (or older). They’re always polite, sometimes a little serious, but they usually warm to us. This driver was friendly and happy from the time he pulled up. He didn’t speak a word of English but he was able to guess we were Australian. He gave us tourist brochures and magazines about Takamatsu and Shikoku to help us. A really nice guy. 720 yen to hotel.

Bath kids. I went to the supermarket around the corner to get fizzy water and milk. I have a theory that milk with pictures of cows on the carton is creamier and tastier than the rest. I learned that in Austria. It appears to be true in Japan as well. I did mistake some godawful lemon drink as milk once though although I can’t recall if it had a cow on the carton. New addendum to the theory, if the carton is yellow it probably isn’t milk. And don’t put it in your coffee.

It had been a reasonably light on day for us. Not as hectic as some even if it did involve a ferry ride to an island. The plan for the next day was a road trip to Iya. We would have coffee and donuts here - of course. Then an udon lunch and maybe the castle if we can squeeze it in. A visit to the castle that is. Not eat it. I don’t think anybody eats castles these days? Possibly castle cakes? Godzilla might snack on an actual castle. Google said it was only a 2 hour drive to Iya.

Cassie

We received some bad news from Cassie’s carers today. It seems she had cut her self on her rear side quite deeply. She was probably running past something sharp and cut herself . They don’t know what actually happened. She is in good hands though and they’d already been to the vet. She will be stitched up and the stitches will come out when we get home.

Wearing the hotel jammies tonight. They fit. Snug, buy they fit. Will have to take a photo.

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Check out Episode 10 of our Epic Family Road Trip Across Japan.

Many of the pictures on this page are by Michelle. Essentially the good ones. Michelle retains full copyright and they can not be reproduced without permission. For licensing and using the photos contact Michelle at Michelle Newnan Photography