Art for Japan's sake

What is culture? Since I wasn’t sure, I looked up the dictionary definition, and as I suspected, there are two rather distinct definitions 1. the arts and other manifestations of human intellectual achievement regarded collectively. "20th century popular culture" 2. the ideas, customs, and social behaviours of a particular people or society. "Afro-Caribbean culture."
Today, we did both of the above by visiting the small island of Naoshima. Since its an island we needed a boat, since we didn’t have a helicopter, and rather strangely Takashima has a prominent helipad, but there is a huge hole in the middle, so that nothing can land on it. Is it an objet d’art? I'm not sure.
The boat trip took about an hour and was really pleasant. The views are mostly of the tree covered small islands and the main island, although there is the occasional shipyard thrown into the mix. It’s a fine autumn day with the sun out, and the sea is calm. There are several fishing boats that glide through the sea.
Of course, the boat and its crew are very Japanese. For example, every last detail of the evacuation is described. I suspect Japanese only die when boat sinks, from anxiety that they might take the wrong route to the life rafts. There is also no café, which would be fitting on such a charming route, and instead, there's a row of vending machines.
On arrival we are immediately served up some pop culture, but strangely the first serving and some latter ones are from Nicki de Saint Phalle (famous for her fat bottom ladies, especially those at the Pompidou centre in Paris), In this case no fat bottomed ladies, and since its Japan, I don’t think I even saw areal one all day, instead Nicki has large coloured pumpkins and other works at the harbour and near the islands Gallery of modern art.
The bus to the gallery fits both definitions of culture. Its exterior is painted with cartoon characters, whilst at the bus stop grim warnings are given as to how to behave, and inside the bus everyone is scrupulous not to fall out of line. Except for in ascending order of chaos Lennox, Lola, Nora, and Oscar, but everyone is polite and says nothing. Not even a critical look.
The gallery itself is everything that Bernard dislikes about modern art, but for once, we I have to say that he is maybe a [Modern]-Kulturbanause. Nobody is perfect. Flo, myself, and the kids are all very enthusiastic, we recognise some works that we have seen in the Tate Modern, and the works are overwhelmingly from Japanese artists, with no sign of Nicki here. Maybe it's clever marketing to use a famous European to lead you to the door, and then expose the visitor to the real talents of Japan.
Covid rules mean the restaurant has no free space for us, so we head back to the harbour for the Japanese version of Kentucky Fried Chicken, but in this case, with rice and a better sauce. After that, it's another pleasant boat trip back.
When we get back, the 3 younger ones demand that I take them to the “boule” shop and to see the Pachinko hall. We do that, and for a variety of reasons, we arrive late back to the hotel, by which time the restaurant is full. A hungry mum and grandpa is not too pleased, but we get back on track over a lovely bowl of udon at the railway station next door.Meer informatie