Day 28

Weather: Sunny in the morning with a yellow haze of sand from China, afternoon cloudy, evening rain.

This morning I got on a high speed ferry (30 minutes) to Naoshima. An “art” island. There are many open air art pieces on this island (most notably pumpkins by Yayoi Kusama) and there are also a number of galleries.

When I got to the island I rented an electric bicycle. Wow, can that thing go! I should have done the pilgrimage by electric bike. It flies up hills!

I didn’t go to every gallery because by 2:30pm I was overwhelmed by all the art and by all the foreigners (mostly French, but I did go round a few of the galleries with a couple from Finland). As well I was going over my budget. Most galleries charge admission (¥520 – ¥2,100). The Chichu Art Museum was the most expensive and they wouldn’t let you take ANY photos (not even of the building). Note: if you do go to Chichu or Hitoshi Sugimoto Gallery you need to make a reservation. You can do it on the day, but you might have to wait a couple of hours for your allotted time.

I returned to Takamatsu by slow ferry (1 hour). No photos. I fell asleep… must have been the rocking motion of the boat.

Tomorrow back on the pilgrimage.