Naoshima

An hour from Okayama, by multiple local trains and a ferry, lies Naoshima. Previously a run down backwater- a mix of rural depopulation and a copper mine denuding the local nature- it was transformed into an "Art Island" with the establishment of the brutalist concrete Benesse museum and a couple of Yayoi Kusama pumpkins. Since then it continues to flourish with more installations, sculptures , art houses and galleries.
Apart from the melee getting off the ferry and picking up one of the electric bikes to get you around the island, it's been a perfect antidote to the frenetic urban cacophony we've experienced so far in JapanLæs mere