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Well today was are last moment in Nagoya. We woke up and worked our way through the subway towards the train station. At this point we wern't entirely sure where we were going. We knew that we only had a few more days left to travel with our train pass and that in that time we needed to work our way to Osaka since that is where we were flying out of. So even though we got a late start we worked our way to Okayama where we then transfered to a local train line that took us to the small coastal town of Uno. From here we then caught a ferry to the island of Naoshima. Naoshima is a small island that is home to fisherman and the Art's. During the 1990s, the Benesse Corporation, a Japanese textbook publisher, partnered with architect Tadao Ando to create Benesse Art Site Naoshima, a series of spectacular contemporary art museums designed around the theme of "Nature and Art." The idea was to promote the island as a series of comtemporary installations.
When we arrived it was late in the day and upon arrival we learned that one of the two museums designed by Ando was closed and contrary to what we read it is nearly impossible to get around the island. If you have lots of money and can afford to stay on the island I highly recomend it especially if you stay at the Benesse House. This is the other Museum that Ando designed which also has accomadations within its program. Each room is said to house a piece of art that you will then be able to view privately not to mention that some of the most spectacular elements of Ando's design are hidden away only for the eyes of the hotel guests to see. There is more to see on this island than just Ando's buildings. Another part the art initiative on the island was the creation of the Art house Project. These works involve the restoration of old houses and the transformation of these houses into works of art by artists (although Ando has also contributed to this as well). These buildings, too, are hard to get to in a day trip because you pretty much need to hike the island in order to see everything and everything needs to be open; which apparently is a seasonal thing and we came during the wrong season. But no worries we were able to see most of the Benesse Museum and its surrounding outdoor works. This was all made possible by the kindness of a local who felt sorry for us when we arrived since the bus only comes around every hour and we had just missed it and so he took it upon himself to drop us at the museum.
It's hard to give an overview of this building since you mainly experience it from only within and as you navigate the hillside around it you only experience bits and peices of the exterior structure. It's a very poetic building and I respect how it navigated nature and used it to its advantage and offered only glimpses of its essence but just enough to make you want to experience it. The following website gives a decent description of the building...
http://www.galinsky.com/buildings/naoshima/index.htm
I wish we could have had a longer day to navigate the island since it apparently doesn't take long to walk between all the works but just the little we did see was enough. Stepping away from the intriquing architecture and just admiring the island in itself the place was amazing, by far one of the most beautiful places we had seen in Japan. Perhaps because it offered a different view of the main island and perhaps because we finally experienced some of the coastline of Japan. So needless to say this little out of the way journey was well worth it to get a glimpse at some of Ando's work and to experience a peacefull island. We walked along the beach just outside the Benesse House and enjoyed some more artist's works as well as the sun set. We then made our way back to the ferry to catch a train to Osaka.
We arrived in Osaka at just after eleven and we had no where to stay and no real prospects so we decided to head to one of the two hostels listed in our Lonley Planet. Lets just say when you really need the guide book to come through it never does. The description of how to get to the hostel was sketchy at best with a description that directed us to walk into a park and turn right just past the water fountain and follow the path to the hostel. What it should have said is...When leaving the station cross the street into the park and walk for a good five minutes until you get to what looks like a fountain in a large plaza and walk around the structure to the right and then take the path that suddenly ascends into the wooded area of the park...be prepared it is a hike! So anyways after finally making it up the gigantic hill to the hostel we are greeted by a nice sign that says the office closes at 9pm. Another bit of useful info that the book left out considering it always mentions whether a place has a curfew or not you think they would of picked up on the obscene hours. So we happily walked down the hill and back to the fountain unsure of our next step. We decided to try and call the other hostel before trekking it across town to the same result. They too were closed! So we decided to call the hostel we just walked from and luckily someone answered and Brandon was able to convince them to make an acception for us and to allow us to check in after hours. So we took to the hill again and eventually we were quitely tucked away in a girls dorm and a boys dorm.
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