Day: April 17, 2025

Naoshima is a beautiful island noted for its attempt at being one big art exhibit.  To get visitors primed, outside the main port is a large red pumpkin people can crawl in and out of. A long block away from the big pumpkin is a bunraku statue.  Or at least that’s how the Portuguese sculptor describes it.  Bunraku…

I’ve been wanting to try these. Lots of hype about this street food. Finally tried it today at a little place at the port. Takoyaki, often called “octopus balls” by us foreigners, are kind of like fried dumplings. A wheat-based batter fried with a piece of octopus meat inside. Seasoning and sauces vary. They were…

Best thing we saw yesterday, sandwiched among abandoned houses. The Can Art Shop.

Visiting Naoshima that is. An island dedicated to art. Gotta be good, right? After checking into Sparky’s House, we set out to walk a pleasant 25 minutes from Sparky’s to the village of Honmura where several abandoned homes have been repurposed as contemporary art spaces.  Grubb will describe the installations  in more descriptive prose but let…