Day 10 - Teshima, Naoshima, + Retrospective

Some vacations lead to profound revelations, all-new relationships, and life changes. I've been back in Seattle for about one week, now, and in America for two. The Art Islands have left my mind and I think my comparison to summer camp is super apt. It's over now - I accept it - but its also there, waiting for me to return, next summer (or whenever.) The Art Islands are 100% hold the most impressive and mind altering collection of art I've ever seen. It is a magical place.

Day 10

On the previous night, I had dinner with a new friend, Natalie. She was not the type of person I typically find myself with; head-strong, obstinate, an artist's disposition and eye, kind of wild in her attention -- also 50-ish -- and way more  internationally experienced but hey its the Art Islands. I found myself against a lot of her opinions but unwilling to argue -- not worth. We stayed out till about 11:00pm and I headed home, loaded up my onsen tub, and eventually headed to sleep -- so, so, so excited about day 2.

I wake up -- please be 5:00am, please be 5:00am -- grab my charging kindle off of the shelf -- it feels like 5:00am ... 2:10am. Shit. I roll around till 3:00am when I give up. Im up for the day. There was just zero chance I was getting to sleep for any long amount of time and I could sleep another time, anyway.

I get up, do some reading, and decide I'd like to see sunrise. I personally feel Im more honed in at sunrise, than set. I want to rest after the sun has set. Instead Im usually getting drunk -- but regardless, here's a chance for me to see the sunset during an irreplaceable two days in my life. Done. By 4:00, I'm out the door, ambling on empty streets. Pink is drawling itself out, over the horizon. I jump around taking different pictures with the environment. It's temperate, in my light jacket. There are occasional cars in the early morning light but the only people out are fishermen.

...

7-11 opens At 6am and I buy a breakfast of rice, nori (seaweed,) and tamago (egg.) I miss it so. Right now, I’m practicing Ramadan and just talking about Japan invites a barge of nostalgia filled with these memories, hunger, and feels. I grab food, and head to the 6am ferry. 

I arrive at the island and quickly find it is about half of the size of the first island, despite whatever the maps say. It smells like fresh ocean. It’s almost 7 — nothing is close to opening — and I see only one man out on the street. I approach the man and courteously greet him: I’m looking to rent a bike, I tell him. This is a 60-70 year old man tending to his garden. He motions to follow him and takes me through the village to one of the wooden homes’ sliding doors. He raps on the door and says something in Japanese. A groggy man holding his morning coffee comes to the door — and he speaks a bit of english. "Yes, bike? Okay come in.” 

The man doesnt check a license and doesnt make me sign anything. I give him $15 and I’m on my way with a motorized bike for the day. 

I take out my map, orient myself, and head for the first of the outdoor exhibitions I want to see. It’s closed, but I find an old — it looks like hospital — and decide to break in and explore; possibly take some cool photos. I step into the tall grass and a giant snake slithers right in front of me. Okay, never mind. 

I keep peddling to the first exhibit I want to see. Closed. I consider breaking in, but see “Beware of Wild Hogs” signs everywhere. I feel that 7am, when noone else is around, is not the time to brave a closed, warthog-infested exhibit and Im still spooked by the snake so I keep rolling. 

Day 9 - Kyoto, Naoshima

Kiyomizudera, one of Kyoto’s biggest tourist temple attractions. The temple is ancient, heavy, wooden, and juts out over a cliffside. It was once considered a great blessing to jump off of this 4-story stage. 42 jumpers have lept to the concrete and foliage below and 85.2% have survived. Wow. I saw a crackhead do two stories on worldstar.com once and THAT was bad. 

A mad dash later and I’m on a train to Okayama, a small city I would visit on my last day. A switch to Chiyamaya and another switch to Uno Port.

The Art Islands

Naoshima

Teshima

Ahh, here we are at the Art Islands. I check into Kikusui Ryokan. I hop on the first ferry to Naoshima Island, one of 2.5 major islands constituting the Art Islands. I am too late to rent any sort of private transportation. I putter around and eventually hop on a community bus to the only museum still open — the Benesse Art House -- considered the second best traditional art museum on the islands… I THINK… and I agree with that.

Benesse Art Museum

I let loose and had an amazing time at the Benesse. the first piece I saw was the Secret of the Sky.  When I sleep talk, for no reason known to me, I sometimes ask “why is the sky so complicated?” Naturally, I had to check this one out. I pushed on the window facing outward to the exhibit and it budged. This was no window it was a door — the people around me shared enthusiasm in this discovery. We entered the Secret of the Sky and I laid down on one of the rocks, looking at the sky and listening to the birds... 

This was a metal board covered in 100 neon slogans, housed in a — hmm — concrete dome. The acoustics in here were otherworldly — I loved it. More, the art operated so that only one slogan of the 100 would highlight at a time. They would alternate, every 5 seconds. For me, this created a random poem. Each slogan carried connotations and the random pattern smashed them together, causing loop-de-loops in my brain. Very cool! 

I met a bunch of friendly, fascinated, and diverse people in this museum. I continued meeting these same folk over the next two days. My new friends and I discovered a quite secluded roof area and witnessed an amazing sunset. As per usual, I hopped the fence into an area I was supposed to go. Completely surprisingly -- I may have found my tribe on this island -- the group on the roof, after some hesitation, all helped each other hop the fence and joined me to snap the sunset. There was no surveillance so we sat down, chatting, watching the sunset and snapping fantastic pictures. 

Secret of the Sky

 I've no secrets to share. The sky is what we thought it was!

100 Live and Die 

Art Friends

Colluding under a blood-red sun, laughing and loopy.

I'm at summer camp, again.

We've taken our lives and experiences to the island but left our baggage. Our personalities are shining through, were in the moment, and were exploring like children. I didn't know this place existed in me -- anymore or ever -- I can't remember. A wise man told me that this island rhymes with itself. That reminded me of George Lucas talking about Star Wars. I cant wait for this rhyme to echo forever.