Author Archives: Andrew

Naoshima, the art island of Japan

The night before we left Yakushima, we met Georg, a young and enthusiastic Swiss architect who was full of praise for Naoshima when we told him we were heading there next. For years now I’ve been building my perfect house in my head, collecting inspiration from designs, materials and nice touches I’ve seen, and I asked Georg’s advice about how best to convey my ideas to an architect, which started a fascinating conversation..

Georg politely explained that I’d be employing the architect to do the design, so it’s far better to think about how I intended to live in the house, and to mention anything that affects the allocation of space, for example, where will I spend most of my time? Is the kitchen more important to me than the lounge? What impression should the house make from the outside?

Naoshima is covered in art, like this giant red pumpkin by Yayoi Kusama that greets you at the ferry terminal

Then we started talking about materials and found we shared what some might call an unhealthy fondness for bare concrete. Georg showed me the works of architects who use concrete in their designs, and specifically those of Japanese architect Tadao Ando who is known for his ‘brutalist’ style of concrete, glass and steel, and I knew I was going to enjoy Naoshima.

Tadao Ando

Tadao Ando is self-taught and one of the most famous architects in Japan. He has designed buildings across the world, including Piccadilly Gardens in Manchester (UK), Fort Worth’s Modern Art Museum in Texas (USA), and of course, many buildings in Japan such as the Tokyo Skytree, the Omotesando Hills shopping complex and three large museum spaces on Naoshima.

Omotesando Hills shopping complex in Tokyo. One continuous inclining walkway links all the shops. Photo source: Wikipedia

Chichu Art Museum

Built into the top of a hill, the Chichu Art Museum incorporates a number of permanent installations, and is itself a work of art

Chichu Art Museum. Ando's design meant the museum building is all underground. Source: Benesse Art Site Naoshima

Chichu Art Museum. Ando designed the museum to be underground while still making use of natural light. Source: Benesse Art Site Naoshima

We loved the mix of geometry and materials, the long underground entrance corridor of concrete reminded me of the D.T. Suzuki zen museum in Kanazawa, and ended with a square, open air staircase whose bannister concealed the stairs so from the ground it just looked like a large square atrium. After climbing the stairs, another long open air corridor ends with a triangular courtyard which we descended to access the gallery spaces.

The triangular courtyard of the ChiChu musem. This one has stones at the bottom, the square one had long grass

We thought it worth visiting just for the museum building, but there are site specific installations by 3 artists, including a stunning off-white room of natural light built specifically for 5 of Monet’s Water Lilly series paintings, 2 immersive installations by James Turrell, an American artist who presents light as art, and a large stepped room containing a huge sphere surrounded by various geometric cricket-stumps by Walter De Maria which was Julie’s favourite.

Lee Ufan Museum

The Lee Ufan Museum on Naoshima. Pointy

The Lee Ufan Museum is a small museum, again designed by Ando and again built into the landscape. We liked the contrast – the large open space outside with the huge standing column gave a feeling of openness and accessibility, but this initial feeling is quickly betrayed by the claustrophobic passageway of 18-foot high concrete walls one must traverse before arriving at the museum’s underground entrance. Inside, the journey through the gallery spaces continue the theme of contrast: light then dark, large then small, each carefully planned for the exhibition of one of Lee Ufan’s installation pieces, until the final room.

Medium in size, with natural light, wooden flooring and rounded corners, the final room is juxtaposed with the rest of the museum, a final contrast if you will, and it invites contemplation because it’s designed as a mediation space. I really liked this – a dedicated space where you are encouraged to sit for a while and reflect on the art and architecture you’ve just experienced.

Lee Ufan – Shadow of Stone. Source: kamel mennour

Of the artwork, I enjoyed the mix of Lee’s work – the large abstract block paintings of the ‘Encounter’ room (entitled ‘From Point’ and ‘From Line’), and the ‘Shadow of Stone’ piece where a video was projected into the shadow of a knee-high stone was captivating for both its content and execution.

Benesse House Museum

Benesse House Museum. Source: Benesse House

The original museum project of the island, the Benesse House Museum is part of the larger Benesse complex that also includes an exclusive hotel, park and a beach. While still incorporating permanent artwork installations such as the Oval (which, sadly, is only open to guests of the hotel), the Benesse Museum is more of a conventional contemporary exhibition space.

Benesse House Museum - Some of our favourite pieces from the exhibition. Yukinori Yanagi 'The World Flag Ant Farm' (source: Benesse Art House Site); Bruce Nauman '100 Live and Die'; Yoshihiro Suda 'Weeds' (source: Big in Japan)

Benesse House Museum – Some of our favourite pieces from the exhibition. Yukinori Yanagi ‘The World Flag Ant Farm’ (source: Benesse House); Bruce Nauman ‘100 Live and Die’; Yoshihiro Suda ‘Weeds’ (source: Big in Japan)

Our favourites were the wall of country flags made from painted sand and joined up into a giant ant-farm, which meant the ants had completely destroyed some of the flags (we tried to identify as many as we could!); the flashing neon wall of words and the very cute piece by Yoshihiro Suda called ‘Weeds’, which look like small weeds growing out of the building itself!

Art House Project

Minamidera, houses my favourite exhibit of Naoshima – ‘Backside of the Moon’ by James Turrell. Photo source: The Unhatched Egg blog

The Art House Project is a collection of regular dwellings that had been abandoned, and were subsequently turned into art installations. A single ticket buys entrance to all 6 of them, and it was fun to cycle between them, as they’re all located in the small port town of Honmura.

We’d spent most of our day at the bigger museums, but we had just enough time to quickly visit each house. On the advice of the ticket staff, we made a beeline for the Ando designed Minamidera, as entrance was limited by number and to 15 minute blocks – which immediately piqued our interest – that and it was built for another James Turrell installation..

While we waited for our turn, we zipped off to see the others before returning for what would be my favourite single exhibit of the island.

Haisha, the ‘scrapbook’ art house

Julie really liked the crazy Haisha, which is aptly described as a ‘scrapbook’ and includes a giant plastic statue of liberty, and we both really liked Kadoya with its pool of submerged LED numbers counting down at different speeds.

Finally, Minamidera. We were led into the short end of the building by a handrail because it’s an installation in the dark. Once in, we sit down and are advised to wait about 10 minutes for our eyes to adjust.

10 minutes later, we can now make out two faint lights at either side of the other end of the room, and between them we were asked if we could see the screen – an empty rectangle of grey that looks like a cinema screen. Once we were all able to see it, I was expecting a show to start, and thinking that the show had already begun, I started seeing little stars move across the screen..

Then we were asked to stand up and approach it. What I thought had been stars were actually the blood vessels in my eyeballs, and as we got to the screen we found it was completely uniform in colour. Then came the surprise.

I’d love to tell you what happened next, but this one is better when you experience it for yourself :)

Us with another of Yayoi Kusama’s pumpkins

We thoroughly enjoyed the art and architecture-packed day on Naoshima, but as each museum charges around ¥1,000 (~£6) for entry (or ¥2,000 for Chichu), we spent ¥5,000 (~£30) each, and that doesn’t include lunch, bicycle hire, or the round-trip ferry to get there. Yep, it was an expensive day on our budget, but it was definitely worth it!

Nagasaki, Japan

Dejima

Scale model of Dejima in the north-eastern garden area, Dejima

During the Edo period (1603 to 1868), the Japanese cautiously opened up to trade with the west, but in an effort to keep the trade at arms length because of concerns over the the spread of Christianity through Japan, it annexed foreign traders to a small fan-shaped island called Dejima. Initially inhabited by the Portuguese, and later by the Dutch, all cargo from foreign ships had to pass through this 120m x 75m islet, where Japanese officials could monitor and record all transactions.

Opperhoofd’s (Chief Factor’s) residence on Dejima. The ground floor was used for storage and the first floor for entertaining and living

The trade brought many benefits to Japan and Dejima became known as a centre of medicine, military science, and astronomy. Many samurai travelled here for so called “Dutch studies”.

The Dutch also brought billiards – more pockets than a magician’s jacket. Julie beating me, and the attendant beating me

As Nagasaki grew in the late 18th century, Dejima was reclaimed as part of the mainland and was lost until 1922 when the Japanese Government designated the land a National Historic Site and work began on restoring the canal that was originally dug to create Dejima, and re-establishing the buildings.

Because Dejima is still landlocked (save for the Nakashima River), it was difficult to visualise just how small it must have felt when it was surrounded by water, still, it was nice to see staff dressed in period costume, and there was plenty of information in English. Some of the exhibits felt a little sparse, but that’s understandable as most of the buildings would have been used for storage and exhibits of crate-filled warehouses would get boring very quickly!

Chinese settlement

While the Dutch were restricted to Dejima, the Chinese traders were supposedly confined to a square walled section of the port’s mainland, but in reality they had almost free movement within the city.

Map of the old Chinese quarter in Nagasaki

On the side of the valley overlooking the port, the old Chinese settlement was a little difficult to find because all that really remains of it are parts of the moat and some of the temples – the houses themselves have long since been replaced and it was very easy to get lost wandering through them.

The Temples of the Chinese Quarter in Nagasaki; Fukken-Kaikan; Kannon-do; Dojin-Do

We enjoyed the peace and tranquility of the Chinese temples, and it was nice to wander through the maze of narrow streets, peering into the homes and lives of normal people.

Glover Garden

With the Meiji Restoration (1868 to 1912), Japan reversed its isolated stance and foreign trade was once again encouraged. No longer confined to walled settlements, early merchants built lavish western-style homes overlooking the port, among them Thomas Blake Glover who was born in Scotland and moved to Nagasaki in 1859 at the age of 21.

Bust of Thomas Blake Glover

Glover is credited with developing western industrialisation and manufacturing in Japan; his shipbuilding business and dry dock later became the Mitsubishi Corporation of Japan; and he also helped found the Japan Brewery Company which became the Kirin Brewery Company – now the largest domestic beer producer in Japan and whose logo is said to be based on a dragon statue in his house and incorporates his legendary moustache.

Glover’s house in the Glover Gardens, Nagasaki. The first western style house built in Japan

The Glover Garden is a collection of British entrepreneurial expat houses built on the same hillside overlooking the port of Nagasaki. All are very western in style and layout, and it was a bit like wandering through a well-to-do version of the Beamish museum back home!

Glover’s neighbours; Clockwise from top left: Former Alt Residence; Former Mitsubishi No. 2 Dock; The Sitting Room of the Former Alt Residence; Former Ringer House

It was really interesting to learn about the strong British-Japanese connection. We also learned that Madame Butterfly is set in the same hills of Nagasaki, and there’s a statue of Japan’s most famous Madame, Tamaki Miura, in the garden.

Statue of Tamaki Miura, Japan’s most famous Madame Butterfly

Mt Inasa

We took the cablecar to the peak of Mt Inasa, some 333m above the city. Because we were the only foreign tourists making the journey, we suspect the attendant played the English translation for our benefit, which we couldn’t help but laugh at – according to the recording, Nagasaki is in the top 3 night-time city port views in the world, alongside Hong Kong and Monaco. Yeah, right..

Nagasaki by night. One of the top 3 night-time city port views in the world. According to Nagasaki..

The view from the observation deck over the city was good, but Nagasaki lacks an iconic skyline that would make it immediately recognisable. As the sun started setting we settled down with a glass of wine at the mountain-top restaurant and watched the darkness descend and the lights come on.

According to the restaurant’s menu, Nagasaki’s local dish is “Turkey Rice”

What is “Turkey Rice”?
Turkey rice is a dish in which pork cutlet, pilaf and spaghetti are served together on one plate, Nagasaki’s local dish

In England, I guess it’d be called Turkey Rice Surprise.

Hypocenter, Atomic Bomb Museum and Peace Park

Having already visited Hiroshima’s Atomic Bomb Museum and Peace Park, we knew about the terrifyingly destructive power of atomic weapons, and we wanted to learn about the different consequences to Nagasaki.

Nagasaki 1945 – Before and after the atomic bombing (Source: Wikipedia)

Nagasaki is a series of narrow valleys and hillsides that feed into the main Urakami valley, which meant that while the atomic explosion was more powerful than that over Hiroshima, the geography confined the damage to a smaller area. This in turn meant there were far fewer injuries, but there were a similar number of fatalities.

Wall Clock stopped at 11:02, found 800 metres from the hypocenter and on display in the Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum

Of the two, we preferred the layout, organisation and smaller size of Nagasaki’s Atomic Bomb Museum, and the more contemplative, greener and spacious Peace Park in Hiroshima.

The first room of the Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum. Wreckage of destroyed buildings and screens showing photographs of the aftermath makes a powerful first impression

The main hall of the the Nagasaki National Peace Memorial building is a beautiful, modern, remembrance space that reminded us of the DT Suzuki Zen Museum in Kanazawa. We all but had the place to ourselves while we sat in quiet contemplation

The black triangular monument at the Nagasaki hypocenter

The Peace Statue at the Nagasaki Peace Park. The right hand pointing to the sky symbolises the threat of nuclear weapons, the flat left hand represents eternal peace and the eyes are closed in prayer for the souls of the victims

We found Nagasaki to be a historically rich destination, and we were pleased we made the effort to visit.

Hiroshima, Japan

Miyajima (Itsukushima)

A day trip from the centre of Hiroshima is the small island of Itsukushima, which is also known as Miyajima, or Shrine Island.

Us with the famous floating torii of the Itsukushima Shrine

After a short walk through the town, we filled ourselves with the local specialties of conger eel and breaded oysters before setting off to climb the 535 meters to the top of the island’s peak – Mount Misen.

Itsukushima Shrine and Hatsukaichi in the background, as viewed from the top of Mount Misen

The hike was steep in places, but fairly easy going. We made a couple of wrong turns – the first was trying to go through the Daisho-in temple where the map at the entrance clearly showed an exit at the top, but we only found a fence. Still, the temple had a very cute figure garden where all of the stone statues had been given knitted hats!

Julie with the be-hatted stone figures at the Daisho-in temple at the base of Mount Misen

Us at the top of Mount Misen, Itsukushima Island

We took the Daisho-in route up and the Momijidani route down, and our timing was perfect to catch the sunset and low-tide at the shrine before our return ferry to Hiroshima.

The stunning “floating” torii of Miyajima at sunset

Yabusame mounted archery, Shimogamo Shrine, Kyoto

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Once a year on the 3rd of May (which fell at the beginning of Golden Week this year), the Shimogamo Shrine in Kyoto hosts a display of Yabusame – or Japanese mounted archery.

Yabusame archer making his way to the starting line

Originally started by Minamoto no Yoritomo in the Kamakura period (1185 – 1333) to improve the archery of his shoguns, this event is now part of the Aoi Matsuri (or “Hollyhock”) festival in Kyoto, and it was a happy coincidence that we were in Kyoto and able to see this fantastic display of skill.

The 5 riders in traditional costume take it in turns to race down the 255-metre track 6 times, taking aim at 3 consecutive wooden targets on each pass. By the time we’d arrived the crowds had already gathered, so we took up a place by a large green square which turned out to be the background for the final target.

The Yabusame archers started the procession to the starting line at 2pm and very soon afterward we heard the crack of splintering wood and the roar of the crowd before the first rider came thundering down the course towards us, at the last possible second drawing his bow across his face to lose an arrow into the final target. We didn’t see the arrow at all, the archer flashed past and the target exploded behind him – it was so quick!

Yabusame archer taking out the final target at full speed

The speed and control of the horses reminded us of the Mongol warriors during the reign of Chinggis Khaan, where archery, horse-riding and wrestling are huge sports celebrated every year at Nadaam festivals throughout Mongolia.

Here’s a short video we took of some of the Yabusame archers which hopefully shows their skills of speed and accuracy..
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64s46ky6AOI]

A woman in the crowd next to us translated some of the announcements for us, and it turned out that one of the archers was an extra in the movie The Last Samurai!

Nara, Japan

Tōdai-ji Temple Complex

The “Daibutsuden”, or Great Buddha Hall, in the Tōdai-ji Temple grounds, Nara, Japan

“[“Tōdai-ji”, meaning] Eastern Great Temple, is a Buddhist temple complex located in the city of Nara, Japan. Its Great Buddha Hall (Daibutsuden), houses the world’s largest bronze statue of the Buddha Vairocana, known in Japanese simply as Daibutsu. Sika deer, regarded as messengers of the gods in the Shinto religion, roam the grounds freely.” – Wikipedia

This massive building is a reconstruction. It is three quarters of the size of the one it replaced, and it is so beautifully proportioned that our brains had difficulty comprehending its sheer size. From the end of the approaching pathway, the Daibutsuden looks about the right size, but then we realised we were a good 300 meters away, and the little stick figures on the steps were people!

The “Daibutsu”, or Great Buddha. The largest bronze statue of Buddha in the world

The Great Buddha just about fits the building, and as his head pokes into the rafters it gives the impression that he’s too big for the hall – it’s a nice illusion that arguably isn’t needed as this is one huge Buddha statue. The Buddha images behind it are scaled such they all appear to be the same size from the ground, and there are other large statues to keep him company.

I was keen to find a specific pillar described in our guide book, as it contains a hole near its base that is the same size as the giant bronze Buddha’s nostril and, if you can fit through it, it is said you will be successful in your search for enlightenment.

On my way to certain enlightenment. This also means that I'm the size of a huge bronze Buddha booger..

On my way to certain enlightenment by pulling myself un-aided through the Buddha’s nostril-sized pillar hole. Of course, this also means that I’m the size of a huge bronze Buddha booger..

Outside, the giant Nandai-mon (temple complex gate) contains the two largest wooden Niō (guardian) statues we’ve seen. They’re perfectly scaled to match the rest of the Tōdai-ji.

One of the gigantic Niō (guardians) towering over a group of schoolchildren

It would be remiss of me not to mention the Shinto messengers of the gods that roam freely throughout the Nara-kōen park area. And what are these protected National Treasures, you ask? Why, they’re tourist-harassing, biscuit and paper-eating deer!

~~Naughty~~ National Treasures, protected messengers of the Gods and cookie-monster-esque devourers of shiki-sembei (deer biscuits)

Yoshiki-en Garden

Instead of the “must-see” Isui-en garden, we opted for the smaller (and free for foreigners – bonus!) neighbouring Yoshiki-en, and while it wasn’t as meticulously maintained as Isui-en, it was beautifully varied and consists of a pond garden, tea garden, and the first moss garden we’ve seen in Japan.

The delightfully serene Pond Garden in Yoshiki-en. I could sit here for hours.

The Moss Garden in Yoshiki-en. A mosst-see.

Kasugayama Primeval Forest

The primeval forest lies to the west of the Nara-kōen park and the Tōdai-ji, and we found it to be a lovely shady walk that the further we went, the darker and more claustrophobic it became.

Kasugayama Primeval Forest, Nara-kōen park.. spooky

Then in the darkest depths of the tree cover, rows of stone lanterns lined the path and lead us towards the sanctuary of the Wakamiya Jinja Shrine.

Just a few of the many stone lanterns lining the primeval forest trail outside the Wakamiya Jinja Shrine

The Wakamiya Jinja Shrine. A place of sanctuary in the primeval forest of Nara-kōen park

Kofun – Megalithic Burial Mounds

Intrigued by keyhole-shaped features on the maps and aerial photography of Nara, we hired a couple of bicycles and went exploring.

The keyhole kofun of Nara – what are these all about, we wondered? (source: Google Maps)

These large, man-made, tree-covered mounds have quite substantial moats around them, and it turns out they’re burial grounds from ancient Japanese times, which figures, but we didn’t find much information about who was buried in them.

The keyhole-shaped mounds and moats of Nara

Heijō – Site of the former Imperial Palace

Once the Imperial and Administrative centre of Japan during the Nara Period, nearly every trace of the buildings that stood here were either relocated, looted for materials or destroyed when the capital moved to Heian.

Reconstruction of the Former Imperial Audience Hall of the Heijō Palace, Nara, Japan

Largely used for agriculture in the 1300 years since, the site is now a large-scale reconstruction project, with the southern Suzaku Gate, East Palace Garden and Former Imperial Audience Hall completed.

We didn’t venture into the museum or the excavation exhibition hall, but we did stop for lunch about half-way through the grounds. It took us about 10 minutes to cycle through the palace site, which says something about its size, and how much work it’s going to take to rebuild it all.

Yakushiji Temple

Situated near the north-south canal to the west of the city, this temple boasts that it was the first to have twin pagodas in its grounds.

One of the twin pagodas in the Yakushiji Temple, Nara. Sadly, the other one was covered up for restoration when we visited

Speaking of pagodas, the temples leaflet says the following which I didn’t previously know..

“Pagoda” means grave in Pali, the ancient Indian language, and it was called “Stupa” in Sanskrit. Pagoda means the grave of the Buddha.

The various temple buildings contain a wealth of Buddhist artefacts, which made it feel more like a museum than a place of worship.

Yakushiji Temple artefacts; cast iron statues of revered monks and the Pedestal of Yakushi Nyorai which is believed to symbolise the Silk Road

We found lots of diverse things to see in Nara – more than we were able to fit into the couple of days we spent there. We could easily have doubled our time and filled it with gardens, temples and shrines.

two year trip

Andrew and Julie's Travelling Adventures