September 16-18: Island hopping and giant pumpkins

Japanese phrase of the day: Okii biru kudasai (probably not correct japanese but it's understood)

GPS point of note:
Seven Beaches Hostel on Naoshima Island, N 34°27.589' E 133°58.496'

Brendan again.

Woke up early and took a picture out the hotel window at Himeji with a slow shutter speed.



We went downstairs to get the bikes moving when Naomi found this on her mudguards. I promptly stomped on him and we went on our way (just kidding. Could you stomp on that face).



We saddled up and set off to Himeji port to catch a ferry for Shodoshima. It was wonderful being able to roll our bicycles onto a ferry without having to take all the wheels and racks off.





The ferries in Japan don't seem to go directly between the larger islands (or we just haven't been able to communicate our intentions very well in Jing-lish). You have to get off at the intermediate islands and wait for connecting ferries or ride across the island to a port on the other side to catch the next ferry. We thought this would be a more interesting option so across Shodoshima we shall go... that was the idea anyway until we got the very hilly view out the ferry portholes.



Oh well. Up we go. There were some stone sculptures on this island to entertain us, like this giant upside down foot with it's big toe pointing up the hill.



and lovely coasts. This island is known as the olive island. It has a sister city in Greece and has olive groves all over. I think this is a young grove by the sea.



The hills, like always, are never as bad once you start riding up them. It really beats walking up them.
Naomi's heart rate would dictate our pace for the baby's sake (I think the baby will need a ride up a 100m hill just to fall asleep when it's born).



We got to the other ferry port and purchased some of the olive related goods. The olives were very delicious actually (olives Oshii! is a phrase that gets a smile. Oshii means delicious).



And then we boarded the Olive lines, a group of ferries that took the greek influence that one step further.

This is an interior shot of the ferry and that painting is of the battle for Troy with the Trojan horse and either Achilles or Neptune looking over it (I don't even know what Neptune has to do with it or even if Neptune is a Greek god but he had a trident in his hand and can be seen riding his chariot across the waves in another picture across the staircase).



September 17-18. Naoshima Island.
What a fantastic Island (apart from the heavy industry).

This Island boasts two Ando buildings, both museums and several art house installations (which are literally old houses that have been refurbished and turned into artworks by various artists).

Unfortunately we could not take any photos except when outside in the public area so there aren't many photos of the artspaces. Tadao Ando's Chichu Art Museum was sublime. Truly a work of sculpture with concrete.



This is a picture of the corner of the ticket booth to the Chichu Art Museum. The fine detail is very pretty.





This was a dynamic sculpture by the sea near Benesse House Museum (by Ando also). It is made of three metal polygons that move with the wind. Very cool.





And behind the diamonds is a wall that points to a little island just off the coast.





The wall has a little opening in it.



And inside are these giant black stone balls that are exactly like the one in Walter De Maria's work in the Chichu Museum up the hill.



The island is peppered with these public sculpture along the coast. Some sculptures would also appear in paintings in the museum and you can look out the window and be suprised with the same sculpture somewhere in the landscape. Fantastic, artistic wonderland.



Giant pumpkins.





There are also some great little pieces like this line drawing of a school kid. It's made with threads of wool and glue.



And a little alien holding the plaque for the work poping out of a conduit strapped to the wall close by.



This is a picture of the lovely lady who is the landlord of the Seven Beaches Hostel we stayed at these two nights. She even gave us a lift to the Chichu Art Museum and gave us lots of free stuff like beer and Kimchee to go with our table BBQ meal in her restaurant around the corner.

She's pointing at Naomi in disbelief after we told her she was pregnant.