Visit Naoshima, Japan

Naoshima is an island in the Seto Inland Sea, located approximately 13 kilometers north of Takamatsu City, Kagawa Prefecture and 2 kilometers south of Tamano City, Okayama Prefecture.

Naoshima and the group of islands surrounding it make up the administrative unit of Naoshima-cho, Kagawa Prefecture.

The main reason for visiting the island is to see the art museums, famed for their contemporary exhibitions and progressive attitude toward the creation and nurturing of new talents. There are two museums on the island that can be visited.

Chichu Art Museum

Chichu Art Museum was established in 2004 as a site to rethink the relationship between nature and people. The museum, managed by Naoshima Fukutake Art Museum Foundation, is located on the south side of Naoshima, an island of the Inland Sea of Japan. The artworks of Claude Monet, Walter De Maria and James Turrell are installed permanently within the building that Tadao Ando designed.

Benesse Art Site Naoshima

The "Benesse Art Site Naoshima" is a collective term for the Benesse Corporation's contemporary art activities in Naoshima, Kagawa. Since the opening of "Benesse House" in 1992, art sites have been made in Naoshima that confront nature, architecture and history. In Naoshima, artworks are created using the "site specific" method.

In other words, invited artists visit and select a site in Naoshima, and then plan and produce work for that site. In the past, artists such as Walter De Maria, Jannis Kounellis, and Richard Long have used this method to create works that exist permanently after completion.