CHALLENGING REGION

Photo 1: Aochi Daisuke MigratoryMigratory BirdsBirds ofof ArtArt FlyFly intointo SmallSmall IslandIsland From FromTokyo, , Paris, Paris, Helsinki... Helsinki... By Saito Tetsuro You will enjoy a fascinating evening view like this on Naoshima island, with the pumpkin sculpture looming at the tip of the pier. Art & Human Brain: Present maternity leave and also after we talked Relationship about visiting somewhere outside Tokyo. “It will be difficult for us to make a ety of designs hung in front of the houses. There has been a “brain” boom in Japan relaxed journey after our child is born,” I The display of the curtains is a practice for the past few years. The latest craze may said. sparked in recent years to please tourists be traced back to the publication of She said, “Even though you say so, my coming to the island and is a ripple effect anatomist Yoro Takeshi’s book “Baka no stomach has grown quite visible.” of the “Benesse Art Site Naoshima.” Kabe” (The Wall of Fools) in 2003. The “I wonder if there is a place we can visit After proceeding to the south from art magazine that I am involved in carried a in about three hours one way, where we Hommura and, again, traveling over a special feature on a link between the human can stay one or two nights to take it easy mountain, you come to the seashore. A brain and contemporary art last year and – and do nothing special and yet it’s a place huge object in yellow and black polka I shouldn’t perhaps say this – it surprisingly you can’t find anywhere else,” I said. As a dots shaped like a pumpkin sits imposing- turned into a topic of the town. result, we decided to go to Naoshima. ly at the tip of a pier that extends from To begin with, it has become an estab- We got on the limited express sleeper the sands (Photo 1). It is a sculpture titled lished theory that the process of a three- Sunrise that left at 10 “Kabocha” (pumpkin) created by artist stage sensory perception is exactly the p.m., and arrived in Takamatsu, Kagawa Kusama Yayoi. Using it as our guide, we “way in which to enjoy” contemporary Prefecture, the next morning. Of course, a entered the Benesse Art Site. art works. A viewer goes through the flight from Haneda airport to Takamatsu process of getting a “surprise at first airport would have been much quicker and One Company Helps Unique Culture glance” from the art work, taking into convenient than the train ride. But the Take Root consideration what was the “reason for journey on the late-night limited express the surprise” and “checking the intent of sleeper was delightful as it added spice to The art site is named after Benesse Corp., the artist for creating it and reflecting on the excursion to enliven a romantic dream. which has been active on the island. Benesse it by comparing it with oneself.” In that We spent 40 minutes on a ferryboat publishes education-related books and takes sense, art and brain science are exception- from the port adjacent to Takamatsu part in service operations throughout Japan. ally compatible with each other. Station to Naoshima, listening to the The company’s art activities in Naoshima And now, it leads me to the subject of sound of waves and songs of seagulls. We started in 1986 when it established a camp- the island of Naoshima. The number of disembarked at Miyanoura port, which ing site on the island, according to visitors to Naoshima has been surging underwent a facelift in 2006 with the Fukutake Soichiro, president of Benesse recently. They may not necessarily be completion of a stylish ferry terminal. In (then known as Fukutake Shoten). He trying to train their brains but go there to 2004 when we went there, however, it assembled selected works of famed US and look for something that they cannot get had only a rustic, simple waiting room European contemporary artists and lined at art museums in urban areas. large enough for 10 people to sit down. them up for an exhibition at a resort hotel You can make a round of the island in designed by world-renowned architect Comfort of Journey by Express 45 minutes by rented bicycle. As you Ando Tadao of Japan. Sleeper or Ferryboat move almost straight to the east from Of course, residents of the island – Miyanoura port and cross over a hill, you almost all of them salary earners commut- I have visited Naoshima, a sacred place reach the main community of Hommura. ing to cities in and Kagawa pre- for contemporary art, in Kagawa There are rows of wooden houses with fectures – initially looked on the art works Prefecture, western Japan, seven times to their outer walls and fences covered by on display with disapproval. However, just date. Measuring about 8 square kilome- boards produced from Japanese “sugi” as a popular saying in Japan declares that ters, it is located in the Seto Inland Sea. cedar trees burned black. Such a landscape perseverance certainly brings about success, One of my trips there was a private jour- was introduced as a means to prevent fire Benesse’s efforts led it to hold in 1997 a ney I made with my wife in February 2004 in winter on the island, which is in a “house project” featuring an exhibition of when “Baka no Kabe” appeared in book- Mediterranean-type dry climate zone. art works in rented houses in Hommura, stores. It took place after my wife received Short, split curtains (noren) dyed in a vari- the island’s main village. Naoshima’s resi-

48 JAPAN SPOTLIGHT • July / August 2007 CHALLENGING REGION

Photo 3: Aochi Daisuke dents, who regarded art activities as some- islanders to keep a balance in life on islands thing that did not concern them until limited in space where they found it hard then, began to feel that they, too, could for culture to develop. Rather, they play a part in such an undertaking. Their “accepted” culture from the outside world. action resulted in hanging noren in front This universal rule is applicable to of their homes (Photo 2). Naoshima as well in our observation. The Rumors that something unusual was islanders have accepted contemporary art, happening on the small island in the Seto the culture originating from Europe and Inland Sea were soon taken up by over- the United States, made an effort to let it seas media. A variety of people, including take root, and helped attract tourists to Otsuka Ruriko sits in her cafe “Maruya,” now a smartly dressed tourists from the cities, the island. Additionally, there has been a popular establishment. backpackers from Europe and art officials new development in the past two years or from New York, were frequently seen at so in which some people moved in from and stayed still for about 20 minutes. We Miyanoura port. other places to settle down and work in finally began to see an electric lamp releas- In 2004, the Chichu Art Museum, also Naoshima. Cafe “Maruya” owner Otsuka ing faint illumination. It was a work of art designed by Ando, made its debut on a Ruriko is one of them. A former designer on visual sensation by James Turrell. To be cliff that sandwiches a small bay from the in Saitama Prefecture near Tokyo, she was sure, my brain relaxed as we remained sit- opposite side of the Benesse Art Site at the “shocked to find there was no vending ting there. Perhaps, our visit may have had pier. The name Naoshima, which had machine for hot beverages” on her first some sort of impact on our daughter, who been known well in some quarters, won visit to Naoshima as a tourist in winter. was still in my wife’s womb at the time, as the hearts of many travel lovers as a result She decided to open a cafe. She inquired she has been born and grown to behave like of the inauguration of the art museum. A of Benesse and was introduced to a vacant a tomboy “with the pores of her brain big travel boom involving the island fol- house in the Hommura community, open.” You, too, may encounter such an lowed. Presently, the accommodation remodeled it and opened the cafe. Now, experience anywhere in the Benesse Art Site. facility “Benesse House” is almost fully some prominent artists on visits to the However, adjacent to the site is the fact occupied throughout the year, making it island casually drop by her eatery for of life that salarymen live there and com- difficult for visitors to make reservations. lunch. “Maruya” has become a popular mute by ferryboat. Nonresidents strongly establishment among tourists (Photo 3). feel such reality because they are on a trip Culture Always Accepted from Urbanization of country areas in Japan to other people’s places and the places are Outside occurred rapidly following the end of on the small island. A journey to some World War II. Japan utilized the cream place can be compared to a gimmick that Folklorist Miyamoto Tsuneichi, who of its construction technology to build reflects the figure of a person and enables hailed from Suo-Oshima, Yamaguchi the 12.3-kilometer Seto Ohashi Bridge him or her to run into another person in Prefecture, at the western tip of the Inland linking , , another place. Art and travel are on the Sea, visited outlying islands and wrote a and Sakaide, , over the same wavelength with respect to making number of books on islanders’ lives, trans- Inland Sea. Many islands now face a seri- an appeal for such awareness. Naoshima portation, industry and culture, finding the ous problem of depopulation. Naoshima, has truly proved to be a suitable place as a origin of the natural features of Japan there. however, is a case that is a very rare excep- destination for art detaching itself from However, he did not necessarily praise life tion as young people are taking up resi- urban areas and also as an important loca- on islands. He said it was difficult for dence on the island. tion for travelers to reflect on themselves in the light of the climate of Japan. Photo 2: Aochi Daisuke Human Brain Finds Contemporary art is beginning to come Ordinary Things to fruition without fail through its activities after Encountering in Naoshima as it has found it could nur- Extraordinary ture and develop itself in an environment Things considered unproductive for Japanese cul- ture. Those coming to the island are not Let me go back to the confined to visitors from the rest of Japan. lead-in for this article. They include migratory birds from other There is a structure (art countries. Tokyo is a transit spot for them work) named as they fly to Naoshima to take an extended “Minamidera” (South rest. In fact, the number of traveling birds Temple) at the edge of appears to be growing without those who Hommura. It was in live in Tokyo being aware of it. complete darkness when we entered the building. Saito Tetsuro is editor of “Bijutsu Techo,” a Siding walls of cedar boards burned black feature Naoshima monthly art magazine published by Bijutsu houses, with short, split “noren” curtains hanging in front, in the We groped our way main village of Hommura. through to find a bench Shuppan-sha Ltd.

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