Explore Japan’s Art Islands by Charter Boat

In this four-day itinerary, we invite you to explore the famed Setouchi art islands, home to the Setouchi Triennale art festival, where you’ll experience some of the most remarkable art installations in Japan along with the wonderful landscapes of the Seto Inland Sea. Immerse yourself in traditional island culture and gastronomy while enjoying fine arts and architecture in a natural setting for what promises to be an unforgettable adventure.

Travel: Naoshima to Teshima

・Approx 20 minutes by chartered boat

Teshima Art Museum

Just a short boat ride away, on the second day, you will discover the island of Teshima where the theme of art meets nature reaches its epitome.

The Teshima Art Museum is unlike anything you may have seen before. Your visit starts with a walk along a small path with a splendid view of the nearby terraced rice fields cascading into the sea, as a reminder that, despite all the wonderful art on the Setouchi islands, the most beautiful things to be seen are the ones shaped by nature itself.

Elsewhere on Teshima, artworks, often embedded in nature, can be found all over the island. Christian Boltanski’s “Les Archives du Cœeur” is not just an art installation, but also a repository of thousands of heartbeats from all over the world. You can even have your own heartbeat recorded.

Shima Kitchen

The best place to have lunch on Teshima is Shima Kitchen. With its wooden roof slowly becoming a canopy as it extends way beyond the building itself, you can appreciate the outdoors during your lunch while remaining indoors if needed. Run by local residents, it is a great place to feel the local community vibe. The dishes - all prepared with seasonal ingredients from the island - are designed and prepared as a collaboration between the chefs from the Marunouchi Hotel in Tokyo and the island’s grandmothers. Shima Kitchen is a feast for both architecture and gastronomy enthusiasts.

Travel: Teshima to Inujima

・Approx 15 minutes by chartered boat

Inujima Seirensho Art Museum

A former copper refinery on the tiny island of Inujima has been turned into a singular museum by artist Yukinori Yanagi and Hiroshi Sambuichi. Just like its counterparts in Naoshima and Teshima, art installations and architecture merge into an out-of-this-world experience.

Travel: Inujima to Naoshima

・Approx 30 minutes by chartered boat

Accommodation: Ryokan Roka

On returning to Naoshima you will spend the night at Ryokan Roka. At Roka, tradition is the keyword. You’ll experience the real ryokan experience, from the moment you walk in its front zen rock garden until you fall asleep in your tatami room after having relaxed in your own private open-air bath. For dinner, you’ll be served local and seasonal kaiseki cuisine unless you want to try the sushi menu. Both are prepared with local fish and seasonal ingredients. The inn’s spa offers re-energizing shiatsu massages and at the bar, you can enjoy homemade herbal liqueurs as well as non-alcoholic cocktails. At night, the patio is lit with an outdoor fireplace, where you can warm yourself in the colder months while drinking green tea. And, being on Naoshima, art is never far away; Ryokan Roka displays the art of some of Japan’s emerging talent year-round.

URL: https://roka.voyage/en/

Travel: Shodoshima to Ogijima

・Approx 30 minutes by chartered boat

Ogijima and Megijima

Discover two of the smaller islands of the area, as well as Takamatsu, the main coastal city of the region.

Ogijima

With its tiny village nestled on the hillside, Ogijima is the definition of picturesque and it is here that the concept of revitalization through art has truly been realized. Stepping off the boat, you are greeted by Ogijima’s Soul, a building designed by Jaume Plensa, with its roof made of letters from different languages, and art is everywhere to be found on the island. But what makes Ogijima special is that the art is intrinsically linked to the community; painted wooden walls in the streets, decorated boats in the port, a playground for children that is also a sculpture, and the onba, the small carts that old women push around the steep slopes of the village, each one of them is a unique and original artwork.

Travel: Ogijima to Megijima

・Approx 5 minutes by chartered boat

Megijima

Ogijima’s neighbor and “sister island” is most famous for being the likely location of the “Ogre cave” in the legend of Momotaro, one of Japan’s most popular folk tales. It is also home to some of the Setouchi Triennale’s art sites, including Island Theatre Megi, a small cinema reminiscent of the New York theaters from the Golden Age.

Travel: Megijima to Takamatsu

・Approx 10 minutes by chartered boat

Ritsurin Garden

Ritsurin Garden, which took about a century to be completed, used to be the local feudal lord’s private garden. Now, almost three hundred years later, it is still one of the most beautiful gardens in Japan. Every single spot in the garden was designed to be viewed and appreciated from a picturesque approach, reminding us that the idea of using nature as art is not a recent invention in Japan. Walk around the ponds where hundreds of koi carp live, take a ride on a traditional wooden boat or drink matcha tea in one of the tea houses that date from feudal times.

Kagawa Prefectural Government Office East Building

This building is considered one of Kenzo Tange’s most representative works, especially of his early period. While mostly made of concrete, its structure makes it look like a traditional wooden building. Some say that it’s one of the most important works of contemporary Japanese architecture. Be sure to admire Genichuro Inokuma’s ceramic tile wall in the main hall. A native of Kagawa, he has a museum dedicated to him in the nearby city of Marugame.

Isamu Noguchi Garden Museum

End your trip on a high note at the Isamu Noguchi Garden Museum. During his later years, the Japanese-American artist had a studio and a house in the village of Mure (now a part of Takamatsu), located near Kagawa’s famous Aji granite quarries. After his passing, the site was turned into a museum that now exhibits more than 150 of his works, some of them unfinished at the moment of his death.