Getting the most out of your trip to Naoshima
Japan’s island of art is a must-see destination for many, but not all who come are prepared.
This is the first in a series of practical articles for visitors to Naoshima, Japan’s famed “art island.” Follow along for future installments — the second part, “Where to stay and what to eat on Naoshima,” will be published soon.
You’ve made sure there’s space in your luggage for a bit of shopping in Tokyo — or maybe more than just a bit. Your itinerary for Kyoto is all laid out, including backup and backup-backup options in case of crowds. You‘ve booked reservations online for a few in-demand eateries in Osaka, and noted every transfer to your Airbnb in Hiroshima.
But amid all the city-hopping, one destination stands apart: the out-of-the-way island of Naoshima, increasingly a bucket-list staple, which combines visionary art and architecture, idyllic nature, and quaint, quirky villages. You expect that a small, rural island is bound to be different from the cities, but how different will the experience be, and are you ready?
Maybe not — but that’s okay! Whether you’re visiting next week or a year from now, a little bit of preparation now can save you a lot of stress later, and maximize your enjoyment. I’ve lived on Naoshima since 2019 and in that time I’ve talked with hundreds of visitors from near and far. In this short series of articles, I’ll incorporate their experiences and my own, offering tips on where to stay and where to eat, how to get here and how to get around, as well as more than a few recommendations on what to see and how to see it. Follow along to prepare for your trip to the art islands (there’s more than one!) and get the most out of your stay.
A bit of background
Perhaps you’ve done your research and read through the Benesse Art Site Naoshima website and have a fair sense of what’s here. Or you read one of the growing number of enticing articles about Naoshima. Or perhaps you, like many, heard about the place from a friend or two and are otherwise pretty much heading in blind. You don’t need to be an expert before you visit — I certainly wasn’t — but having a bit of background helps set the stage.
Naoshima is an island midway between Osaka and Hiroshima in the Seto Inland Sea. It’s home to roughly 2,900 residents, many of whom work at the Mitsubishi Materials copper smelter that’s been the main industry on the island for more than 100 years. But the hundreds of thousands of tourists who visit Naoshima annually come for something much more recent: the island’s contemporary art attractions, which have grown from a single museum that opened in 1992 to a large constellation of museums, galleries, and installations. The newest offering, Naoshima New Museum of Art, is set to open in late May.
The story of how all of this came about is a bit convoluted — you can read more about it here — but in short, Naoshima’s “art site” grew out of the shared vision of three men: a wealthy businessman; the longtime mayor of Naoshima; and a rising-star architect, Tadao Ando. Mr. Ando’s signature concrete architecture on its own is worth the price of entry for many, but the museums and galleries he and a few others designed also house stellar artwork by Japanese and international artists, including household names like Claude Monet and Yayoi Kusama. Some “museums” in question also stretch the idea of what a museum is, in marvellous and confounding ways.
While the art project began in 1992 on Naoshima, by 2010 it had spread to the neighboring islands of Teshima and Inujima, which now also house permanent museums by prominent architects. And there are more art islands besides — twelve in total! — that host around a million visitors during the Setouchi Triennale, an art festival that takes place for 100-plus days every three years.
Over the decades, Naoshima’s star has risen considerably, particularly with the advent of Instagram. This coincided with the debut of new attractions like Chichu Art Museum, an Ando-designed underground facility that has been wildly successful since it opened in 2004. These days, though Naoshima still feels very hidden away, it’s not uncommon to bump into an acquaintance you know from the other side of the world in the Chichu gift shop: I’ve seen it happen twice in the last year.
Some general advice
Before getting into the nitty-gritty, here is some general advice for your trip. It might even be good advice for any trip. But particularly out here, nearly every instance of traveler frustration I have witnessed could have been avoided by following these three points:
Stay for longer than you think — really.
It’s a little island, isn’t a day enough? It could be, but you will need to make some choices. It’s easy to underestimate the sheer volume of places to visit on Naoshima. More importantly, the truth is that you just can’t know everything before you get here. Don’t exhaust yourself trying to cram in the sights you thought you needed to see before you arrived, and don’t let yourself miss the many little hidden moments that make being on an island so delightful. Give yourself time to discover the unexpected, savor the bits that resonate with you, and take breaks. I recommend at least an entire day (staying two nights on the island or in a nearby port) to see some of the highlights on Naoshima. If you want to truly immerse yourself, or if you want to explore other islands besides Naoshima (using Naoshima as a base), then you should stay at least three nights.
Don’t try to see everything — you’ll only end up disappointed.
Even if you’ve given yourself a few nights here, there will be something that is closed, or that you forgot to get to while you were in the area and now you’re on the wrong side of the island. You’ll mix up the online tickets and realize only after the museum is sold out for the day. The cherry blossoms will be in bloom the week after you depart. Or you’ll find that even three days isn’t enough to cover everything to your satisfaction. Don’t let it get to you. This place has been intentionally designed to frustrate your efforts to see everything in one visit. Sure, it’s easy for me to say “see it next time” — I live here, while you aren’t even sure if you’ll return to Japan in the future, much less get back to the islands. But that’s life! I promise you will have a much more fulfilling experience if you don’t get hung up on seeing everything and just enjoy what you can comfortably get to. Stopping for coffee and skipping a museum is absolutely okay.
Don’t expect flexibility — bring it with you instead.
Service in Japan can be truly outstanding, and the country has grown even more visitor-friendly in recent years as the government has encouraged inbound tourism. That service culture will follow you out to the islands, at least somewhat. But in rural Japan there are often situations that would thwart even the most earnest efforts to assist you. In particular, anything related to transportation (especially booking taxis and water taxis), dietary restrictions and other meal preferences, opening/closing times and anything else with a schedule, trash disposal, and where you can and can’t ride or park your bicycle. You will enounter rules or explanations you think are completely backward, and hear “no” (or, more often, “it’s difficult…” which means “definitely no”) for things that seem to you like an easy “yes”. The reality is that it’s much more expedient to build in your own flexibility for situations where there may otherwise be none available. Bring a snack just in case. Pad your schedule just in case. Note how long it’ll take to walk even if you’re planning to take the bus. Hopefully you won’t end up needing to rely on any backup plans, but having a few ready will give you peace of mind and reduce friction with people who would love to help you but simply cannot.
Some much more specific advice
Here are a few more focused recommendations for a smoother Naoshima experience.
Bring cash. Not a lot, but enough.
Japan has taken great strides in recent years to ditch its cash-is-king reputation and embrace cashless payments. This trend has begun to manifest outside of the cities, but it’s still far from universal, and you’ll regularly encounter situations where cash is the only option. These include:
- Most ferries to/between the islands
- The town bus on Naoshima (¥100 each ride, pay as you exit)
- Coin lockers for depositing your luggage
- Many small cafes/restaurants
I’d recommend having ¥5,000 in cash per person per day at a minimum (more if you’re ordering drinks with meals or traveling between islands) to cover cash-only situations. You can use most international debit/credit cards to withdraw cash at ATMs at the 7-Eleven (open until 9:00 PM) and the two post offices on Naoshima. Teshima has an ATM at the post office in Ieura that’s open on weekdays only.
Wear appropriate clothing — particularly footwear.
Your experience on the island will be greatly improved if you dress for the occasion. Don’t test fate: take a 30% chance of rain as “it’s going to rain.” Foldable umbrellas and light wind- and rain-proof jackets are good to have on hand, particularly in the spring and fall. Even when the weather gets mild in the spring, the wind can be chilly. The wind in the winter is especially frigid. Summer afternoons are getting more oppressive every year — pack a wide-brimmed hat, breathable clothes, and a water bottle. You can be fashionable again when you’re back in Tokyo.
Now for footwear: Wear shoes that are easy to take off and put back on. You will be doing this a lot, as many of the art spaces as well as cafes and restaurants are no-shoes-allowed. There are not always benches available for donning and doffing shoes so if you’ve got a pair of cheap slip-ons (or loosely tied sneakers) you’ll be much less inconvenienced.
Check the calendar, and book your museum tickets early.
Before making any plans, visit the Benesse Art Site Naoshima calendar and see what is open on the date(s) you’d like to come out. The calendar is viewable six months into the future — if you are making plans more than six months ahead of time, keep in mind that most museums are closed on Mondays, except on Japanese public holidays that fall on Mondays, in which case the museums are closed on the next day. (Teshima and Inujima museums are closed on Tuesdays but are similarly affected by national holidays.) Also, museums are closed for maintenance for long periods in the winter, so be especially careful when planning a January visit. Beware of busy travel times like Golden Week, Obon, and the new year, when lots of Japanese people are on the move and everything from hotels and restaurants to trains and taxis are much more difficult to book.
In 2024, Benesse Art Site Naoshima introduced online tickets for all museums. Some facilities require specific entry times (notably, crowd-favorites Art House Minamidera and Chichu Art Museum, as well as Teshima Art Museum), but for most you simply purchase your ticket for the day and visit any time. Here is a link to the tickets portal. Tickets are available for purchase about two months in advance. The ticket system is a bit glitchy, juggling the tickets in your email is annoying, and the companion app doesn’t cooperate with some international phones — if possible, print out all your QR code tickets and bring them with you as a backup.
In the second part of this series, I’ll go over the lodging and food options on Naoshima.
Book a tour of Naoshima with Art Island Center and explore Japan’s “art island” with a local guide. More info here.
Have you been to Naoshima? What do you wish you knew before you visited? What advice would you give your friends who are planning a trip out here? Let me know in the comments.
