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Naoshima Art Island
Photo Credit: Flickr / Carol Lin CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
Mainland Japan is surrounded by many other islands that make up the beautiful country. ‘Many’ to be more precise, is around 6,000! Yes, that’s a huge number of places to explore and a vast range of things to discover. Some weird, some wonderful; the islands make Japan feel like there’s a surprise around every corner. Top of the list to visit often is Naoshima, Japan’s Art Island.
Naoshima Island is famous all around the world for its modern art museums, architecture, and sculptures that make the beachy and rural destination, with breezy sea air, a special dream-like destination for those who love art.
Origins of Naoshima island
The Island became the attraction it is today thanks to the billionaire businessman Soichiro Fukutake. It all started when he began exploring the smaller islands of the Seto Inland Sea in the late 1980s.
Going against the formula that big cities equal an economic boost, he came up with the magical idea of making three of the islands, which had suffered from the effects of industrialization, into islands full of, and known for contemporary art.
The billionaire certainly had the means to make his vision bigger than life and something truly unique. He managed to get the architect Tadao Ando, AKA “the king of concrete”, to collaborate on Benesse House Museum and so the…
