This was the only accommodation we stayed in where we rolled out our own futons. Gives new meaning to ‘make the bed.’
Our Japanese cottage is too cute. Wish we could stay another night so we could enjoy it and the island more.
The giant pumpkin is on the pier in the far right.
Lovely views of the beach at Tsutsujiso.
Japanese Breakfast at Tsujutsu Cafe
Tsutsuji Cafe
Traditional Japanese breakfast at Tsutsuji Cafe: rice, egg, pickles (purple things beside egg), fermented soy beans, noodles, fish, seaweed, and seaweed wraps, plus miso soup and coffee. Can’t say I like fermented soybeans, they’re very sticky and have a very strong taste but everything else was great. I especially like Japanese eggs which are a bit sweet. Karl and I bought a Japanese omelet pan and hope to learn how to make them ourselves.
Some pictures of pretty things taken while waiting on the bus.
Lovely torii by the sea. I wonder what the rocks on it mean.
Buddha?
Torii and Buddha
Took the bus into Honmura to get our tickets for the Art House Project.
Honmura
Honmura Lounge & Archive (ticket center)
Art House Project:
The Art House Project is an art project underway in Naoshima’s Honmura district. It began in 1998 with Tatsuo Miyajima’s Kadoya, and presently comprises seven houses: Kadoya, Minamidera, Kinza, Go’o Shrine, Ishibashi,Gokaisho, and Haisha.
The Art House Project takes empty houses scattered about residential areas, and turns the spaces themselves into works of art, weaving in the history and memories of the period when the houses were homes. Meetings between visitors to the island and the island’s people in places where they go about their daily lives also provide occasions for a variety of interesting encounters.
Shifting its focus from “nature and art” to “people” and conducting its activities in a zone of daily life, the Art House Project continues its growth into a truly organic project that changes day-by-day. – Benesse / Art House Project
First stop: Minamidera, a structure paying homage to a temple formerly on the site. It features Backside of the Moon, 1999 by James Turrell. James Turrell is an artist that works with light and space. I fell in love with some of his work in Nashville a few years ago at the Frist museum so it was a treat see several works by him in Naoshima. This was an interesting experience that I believe the brochure more accurately titled ‘Finding Light.’ We were given instructions to put our hand on a wall and follow it inside into the darkness where we were guided to a bench and asked to look ahead for several minutes. It was very strange to have my eyes wide open but not see anything. After several minutes a faint light appeared and our eyes slowly adjusted to the space, but only one wall was very dimly light with a purplish light. It was neat to see fuzzy silhouettes of people walking around in front of the lit wall.
Kadoya – Sea of Time ’98, Naoshima’s Counter Window, and Changing Landscape by Tatsuo Miyajima
Go’o Shrine – an interesting shrine/tomb combination.
The stairs are made of some sort of glass or acrylic and continue underground into the tomb.
We were given a flashlight and told to wait for the people ahead of us to come out before entering the tomb.
Look at how narrow this thing is! No wonder we were told to wait for those ahead of us. We walked through the tunnel to an underground space where we could see the translucent steps from the shrine descend into an underground pond.
View of ocean from outside the tomb entrance.
We visited several other Art Houses of which the last two were my favorites. I really liked The Falls, 2006 and The Garden of Ku, 2009 by Hiroshi Senju at Ishibashi. The Falls was a lovely room where waterfall paintings adorned the walls creating a very tranquil space. Creative Review has some nice images of it in this article.
My favorite Art House is Haisha (pictured below), once the home and office of a dentist, the interior and exterior space has been completely transformed by Shinro Ohtake into a sculptural/graphic work of art in a sort of collage way. I particularly liked Dreaming Tongue/Bokkon Nozoki, 2006 a room with a celestial appearance and feel.
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A neat wall we passed in town.
Karl and I missed our bus back to Tsutsujiso so we decided to walk the 30 minute walk in the hopes of not missing our bus to the ferry. At one point I thought I was going to pass out from over exertion. We pushed ourselves to walk quickly, a good bit of the walk was up hill and the sun was harsh so it was not a pleasant walk.
Trying to figure out if we’re going the right way.
The Carol is overheating.
Not sure what it says but it’s got our attention.
We didn’t make it to our next bus on time. It left just as we arrived at Tsutsujiso but that was for the best since I needed to hydrate and rest. It worked out for the best as we were able to take a break at the cafe until Taiki got off work.
Brown sugar flavored puffed rice. Yum!
Took the bus back into town (Miyanoura Port) and had lunch with Taiki at Cin.na.mon, a yummy curry restaurant.
Cin.na.mon, a curry restaurant with lots of art, including a piece by our friend Taiki.
Inside Cin.na.mon
A really yummy coleslaw like salad. Wish I knew what the dressing was, it was divine.
Naoshima Curry with rice (Shrimp, Scallop & Squid) — Cin.na.mon’s most popular dish.
Karl opted for a very yummy bowl of rice topped with deep fried chicken. The seasoning was sooo good.
Taiki with his work. Love the energy.
Red Pumpkin – After lunch we walked back to the ferry station and visited an outdoor art piece called the Red Pumpkin.
Red Pumpkin
Inside the Red Pumpkin — cool red and yellow lights on the floor and holes in various places in the pumpkin walls.
Hands up for Taiki!
Vanilla Ice Cream at the Ferry Station.Parting Ways — Our last selfie together.
Ferry to Uno 2:55
Taiki in front of the ferry featuring three pieces of his work. We waited for this particular ferry so we could enjoy his work on our way back to Uno.
Found it! I think this one is my favorite, though I adore all three.
Uno
Interesting artwork. This is sort of a style or theme I’ve been wanting to work with. I did a sort of creepy painting years ago of some old dolls and figures found at a thrift store and I’ve been itching to work on a series as soon as my studio space is finished.
Interesting golden animal ladder thing in front of Uno Station.
Train from Uno to Chayamachi Station
I’m going to miss riding trains and enjoying the views of rice fields and gardens.
Chayamachi Station – diagram of train stations. We began at Uno, change trains at Chayamachi, and will continue on to Okayama.
I love trains! (Train from Chayamachi to Okayama)
Okayama
We arrived in Okayama at 4:40 pm. I waited outside the train station will all of our bags while Karl ran to Aeon mall to pick up a suitcase we’d purchased two days earlier. It was nice to sit outside and soaking up the atmosphere.
When Karl returned we made Shinkansen reservations for our trip to Osaka.
Osaka
We got a bit turned around and a little lost when we got to Osaka. Shin-Osaka and Osaka station were crazy. We’d been in some really busy stations before but I think this was the worst. The hotel I booked was not close to a major train station as I had opted to get a hotel close to the one area we wanted to check out during our one night in Osaka. Confused, we took a train to Osaka station only to eventually realize that we needed to take the subway and it would of been faster to take the subway from Shin-Osaka station. Let me take this moment to say that to get to the subway we descended deep, deep into the depths of Osaka. I have no idea how far underground we were but I think I recall descending at least 5-6 escalators and walking who knows how far. Ask Karl, he’ll probably remember.
Karl getting ready to play Frogger.
Namba, our subway destination and the area our hotel was located. I chose this location because of a popular night life area we wanted to explore.
I hurt my left foot and knee while in Naoshima so Karl was a sweetheart and insisted on carrying most of our bags up and down all the stairs himself. Love him.
Walking through Namba looking for our hotel.
We found it! We stayed the night in a business hotel in the heart of Namba.
Small but efficient.
Turns out when you book a room with two twin beds they come pushed together. I’m not sure we could of separated them if we’d wanted to.
Japanese bathrooms are so neat. They’re not as stylish as American bathrooms, but I love their fancy toilets and super deep bathtubs.
Almost all accommodations include things like: toothbrushes, toothpaste, hairbrush, razor, q-tips, and more.
This bathroom had an interesting facet that swiveled from the sink to the tub.
Super deep tub. It’s shorter than an American tub but the depth makes up for it.
I was tired when we arrived and my ankle and knee hurt too much for me to want to go out as planned but Karl had his heart set on getting a pin from Hard Rock Osaka so he ventured out on the condition that he return with ice cream and message me if the walk took longer than expected.
Dotonbori Canal, Dotobori is the area we planned to explore. It was insanely crowded and hopping when we walked through to our hotel. The world famous Glico Man! –Karl
Cin.na.mon, a curry restaurant with lots of art, including a piece by our friend Taiki.
