Naoshima

Yesterday, we headed out of Kurashiki to Naoshima (three trains and a ferry), home of the Benesse Art Site. It had come highly recommended by friends.

As we have found so often in Japan, the people at the bike rental place were enormously helpful. We had been a bit skeptical about whether there would be a bike with a child carrier, but in the event, there was one with both a child seat on the back and a baby seat on the front. Perfect for our most confident (and strongest) cyclist, P. It even had battery assist. (Although, to be honest, he probably would have beat me and X. up the hills with both kids and without battery assist.)

After lunch, described in a previous post, we headed out of Miyanoura to look at art.

The Chichu Museum was our first stop. It is very minimalist, with quite brutalist architecture. There are only a few artworks in there, but each is in a specially designed space and lit (where lighting is required) by artificial light.

The display of Monets is phenomenal (and reflected in the garden with lily pond outside). The work by James Turrell called "Open Field" is amazing and surreal.

But the highlight for me was the Walter de Maria work. This consists of an enormous polished marble globe in the centre of a large hall. It sits halfway up a flight of seamless concrete steps. Around the walls are golden-painted angular wooden columns, placed in groups of three and at various orientations.

The light comes in through hidden skylights around the edges of the room, is caught by the columns and reflected off the globe.

An attendant stands outside warning everyone to be quiet inside (the hall is very echo-y) and not to touch the globe. The attendant who was there when we went in the first time had curly hair, a big smile and a friendly manner. When we went back the second time (it had been cloudy when we first arrived, but it was sunny by the time we were ready to leave and we wanted to observe the difference), she had switched places and was inside the hall. She took a great deal of delight from our pleasure in the work, particularly the 4 y.o.'s enjoyment.

After the Chichu, we went riding further, checking out other parts of the island and whatever outdoor art we could find. It was a very pleasant afternoon.

My one complaint about the day is that the train that met the ferry left within about 5 minutes after the ferry got in. With two kids, that was never going to be possible. However, the station attendants were able to give us a restaurant recommendation so our waiting time was not wasted.