September 27-29: We road-tripped with friends to Okayama (a fairly populous city) and Naoshima (an island full of art).
We left Friday after work and drove about 3 hours to our hotel in Okayama. After checking in we explored the nearby area on foot. Our hotel was near the train station and downtown area so there was lots of interesting things to see. And so many people out ant about! It made me realize how truly small Iwakuni is as a city. On a Friday night in Iwakuni, the streets are pretty dead; in Okayama everyone and their brother is out and about!
Our first stop was the Pinball Cafe bar- a tiny 1950's Americana themed bar.
Also while we were out and about we met a Texan, a Brit and a Canadian (sounds like the start of a joke!) who were working in Okayama and could not understand why we would chose to travel to Okayama. I found this amusing since, as I already mentioned, Okayama was such a livelier place than Iwakuni. It was by no means a Tokyo or Kyoto but for the weekend it was a great place to visit!
The next morning, we breakfasted at the hotel and then caught a train to Uno where we were to catch the ferry to Naoshima Island.
Straight ahead from the ferry dock the bike rental shop. It was an absolutely GORGEOUS day and biking was the perfect way to traverse the island.
An alley next to the bike shop. The whole island was SO picturesque!
The one thing about riding bikes is that it's really hard to judge distances because you can cruise so quickly that the kilometers just melt away. It took a little getting used to.
After biking in a few circles and passing it a few times, we finally found our first destination: an art house. One of several on the island but since they were about 500 yen/person to get in, we had done some prior planning and picked this one as the only one to actually go inside of. Pretty cool!
Look at that blue sky! Can't you just tell how gorgeous the day was?
We weren't allowed to take pictures inside of the art house so here are a few I found on the internet:
Some more information on the art house (http://www.benesse-artsite.jp/en/arthouse/haisha.html):
Haisha (literally "dentist"), once the home and office of a local dentist, has been completely transformed by artist Shinro Ohtake into a sculptural/graphic work of art-or perhaps a kind of sculptural scrapbook with various elements-in any case, an art house combining an array of eclectic styles. Dreaming Tongue, the title of the artwork, represents the process of calling to mind a dream from the tastes and aromas of a morsel in one's mouth.
I definitely recommend visiting it. There were about 5 rooms over 2 stories, all totally transformed into works of art. It was really neat!
Here are my pictures from the outside of the house:
These black sculptures extended inside.
Next we biked to the other side of the island to see the Benesse House Museum. From the website:
Benesse House Museum opened in 1992 as a facility integrating a museum with a hotel, based on the concept "Coexistence of nature, art and architecture." The facility consists of four buildings, all designed by Tadao Ando: Museum, Oval (opened in 1995), Park and Beach (both opened in 2006).
The Museum, which performs the complex's principal function of displaying art, is an imposing structure open to the outside world, and visitors can sense the presence of nature even inside the building. In addition to the works in its collection, the Museum also contains permanent site-specific installations that artists have created specially for this building, locating the installations on their own and designing the works for those spaces. In fact, the Museum's artworks are found not just within its galleries, but in all parts of the building, as well as in scattered locations along the seashore that borders the complex and in the nearby forest. One of the pleasures of visiting Benesse House is unexpectedly encountering works of art, not only within the walls of the Museum but also while strolling around the grounds, enjoying the abundant natural beauty of the Inland Sea region.
We had to park our bikes here and walk the rest of the way along the shore and then up the hill. See the museum on the lefthand ridge of the hill? Luckily it was so gorgeous outside!
All throughout the grounds of the museum and long the hike up to the museum were interesting sculptures.
Nick is inside this interactive sculpture. You can see him behind the 2nd panel from the right.
More interactive art.
Nick and I decided to check out more of the sculptures on the grounds instead of actually going in to the museum.
Preggo.
It was just warm enough for a swim so Nick took a dip. The water was crystal clear.
Inspired by the art of the island, I try to take a creative photo.
Then we walked across the little peninsula, through a wind tunnel, to the other side.
One of 2 interestingly painted pumpkin sculptures that are famous sites on this island.
I told Nick to take a picture of the inside of the restaurant. The results:
After lunch, we met back up with our friends and biked to the next museum. This involved a hill climb that really proved the worth of the motor assist bikes! While I (literally) motored up the hill, those on regular bikes trekked slowly and sometimes had to get off and walk up the steepest parts.
Gorgeous view from the top!
The big climb up, however, meant a fun ride back down- weeee!!!
The next stop was our 3rd and last art museum for the day was the underground Chichu Art Museum. From the website:
Chichu Art Museum was constructed in 2004 as a site rethinking the relationship between nature and people. Artworks by Claude Monet, James Turrell, and Walter De Maria are on permanent display in a building designed by Tadao Ando. Taking form as artists and architect bounced ideas off each other, the building in its entirety can be called a massive site-specific art work.
To ensure that the museum does not affect the beautiful scenery of Naoshima, the majority of the building is located underground. Despite its positioning, it receives an abundance of natural light, changing the appearance of the artworks and the ambience of the space itself with the passage of the days and the seasons.
And apparently I forgot to take pictures of this one so here are 2 from the website:
It was pretty neat because even though the whole thing was underground, everything was lit by natural light. We parked our bikes and walked past a Monet-inspired garden along the way (we've been to the real one in Giverny, France!). The museum also involved a really trippy interactive piece which I can only describe as "the Mike Teevee from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory when he gets sent through the air as a TV wave on to the television" experience.
After a quick rest in the cafe at Chichu, it was on to our art class. It only made sense after a day of seeing art to try our hand at making our own!
An extremely friendly Phillipino lady helped us find the classroom building and translate the instructions from our instructor who was very shy about how much English he could understand. The guys all decided to paint a Naoshima-inspired pumpkin and the girls decided to make our own ceramic piece.
Tina made her own pumpkin, Kirk made pigs, and I made (with a lot of help from our instructor) a pot.
Nick painted his pumpkin Gopher colors. Ski-U-Mah!
The shop front which ended up being right around the corner from the bike rental shop from that morning.
We then returned the bikes and walked down the block to "I♥湯" (I <3 an="" art-inspired="" bath-house.="" naturallly="" onsen-="" p="" yuu="">From the website: This is an art facility created by artist Shinro Ohtake where visitors are actually able to take a bath. "I♥湯" was created to provide both a place for Naoshima residents to rejuvenate and a venue for exchanges between Japanese and international visitors and locals. Designed in collaboration with the creative group graf, the exterior and fittings of the bathhouse, from the bath itself to the pictures decorating the walls, the mosaics, and even the toilet fittings, reflect the world of Shinro Ohtake.
The bathhouse is operated by the Town-Naoshima Tourism Association and the Miyanoura District Association. Come visit and soak in the tub, and experience art with your entire body.
Again, we weren't allowed to take pictures inside- obviously, because this was a bath house so there were naked people all over. While we didn't share any "international exchanges with the Japanese," I suppose we did experience art with out whole body(?)- there was art EVERYWHERE! The walls, ceiling, floor, toilet, floor of the tub, etc. It was interesting.
After onsen-ing, we were ready to head back to Okayama. We boarded the ferry and snapped one last picture of the other famous pumpkin sculpture on the island.
Nick tried salt-cider. It was unusual. I had tried salt-cider ice cream earlier and it was unusual.
Once we returned to Okayama, we explored the city on foot some more. We ended up having more Italian for dinner and then hanging out at a Tapas bar before calling it a night.
The next morning it was another GORGEOUS day. After checking out of our rooms, we drove over to the Okayama Korakuen gardens near the Okayama castle. This garden is supposedly "one of the three most beautiful gardens in Japan." Even though not a lot was in bloom, it was still very pretty so I agree!
This looked like a Hobbit-home to all of us :)
Koi!
The girls and the guys.
After sufficiently enjoying the sunshine and beauty, we were all nearly out of money and there were no 7/11s in sight (a rarity!) so we called the trip to an end, climbed back in to the van and headed home to the 'Kun-docks.
It was a short but GORGEOUS trip that I would definitely rinse and repeat anytime!
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