How an art festival has helped bring new life to a Japanese archipelago

As recently as the noughties, the sleepy islands of Japan’s Seto Inland Sea were declining, as younger generations left for cities, a way of life slipping through time.

Then in 2010, the Setouchi Triennale was launched, a contemporary art festival held every three years across 14 locations. Featuring site-specific installations and artist collaborations against idyllic rural landscapes, it began to gain traction.

From a hopeful experiment, it has since evolved into one of Japan’s major cultural events, attracting travellers interested in art, design, and urban revival. The fourth iteration in 2019 drew a record-breaking 1.17 million visitors.

Several islands have since become cultural hubs, drawing people back through art projects. The Triennale returns this April for the first time since the pandemic and will run for three month-long sessions in spring, summer and autumn.

A project on conservation

Beyond the Triennale’s site-specific projects on nature, conservation, and sustainability, a growing number of permanent developments, such as museums, art spaces, and design-forward accommodations, have emerged.

Nowhere is this more apparent than Naoshima, where contemporary art is the main attraction. Yayoi Kusama’s polka-dotted Pumpkin sits on a quiet pier, a splash of colour against the sea.

Nearby, Benesse House, a blend of museum and boutique hotel designed by Tadao Ando, allows guests to sleep among world-class art. The Chichu Art Museum and Valley Gallery, also Ando designs, offer more art-meets-architecture experiences.

When I attended the Setouchi Triennale in 2019, I explored Naoshima and the neighbouring Teshima, which houses an established art museum.

I was most intrigued by other islands like Ogijima and Shodoshima, where there are no grand museums or luxury hotels (yet). Still, the Triennale’s art has offered a starting point for travellers curious about viewing art amid a rustic backdrop.

I was also drawn to Okayama, the mainland gateway to the Seto Inland Sea, whose ferry terminal offers year-round service to the islands. While planning a recent trip, I became curious about the trend of using artificial intelligence to curate my vacation and tried Booking.com’s new AI Trip Planner for travel and accommodation suggestions.

The AI recommendations led me to the city’s unexpected artistic side, such as Kurashiki Bikan, a preserved Edo-period district that houses Japan’s first Western art museum, Ohara Museum.

It highlighted Kojima, the birthplace of Japanese selvedge denim. Today, the region is a destination for denim connoisseurs, with boutique workshops crafting coveted jeans — look out for Momotaro Jeans, which offers made-to-measure hand-woven jeans at around $2,600 a pop.

The platform also directed me to A&A Okayama, a boutique art-and-architecture project where international artists and Japanese architects create conceptual lodgings. I booked the Liam Fuji house, designed by artist Liam Gillick and Mount Fuji Architects Studio. It features striking labyrinthine staircases twisting through geometric forms, inviting guests to get lost in its unique architecture.

Artful repurpose

For a guided art-and-architecture-focused journey, travellers may consider the Walk Japan’s Inland Sea: Art Islands tour. Traversing several islands and cities, it focuses on destinations where many of Japan’s top artists and architects, including Kusama, Ando, Toyo Ito, and SANAA, have been increasingly active, injecting a new vitality into their communities.

“Art and architecture attract visitors to many destinations worldwide, but here, it may be on an unprecedented scale. I imagine it is one of the largest in geographical extent and has also brought a lasting transformation, with each edition leaving behind more works and inspiring more creatives to come,” observes Paul Christie, chief executive officer of Walk Japan.

Prolific contemporary artist Yukinori Yanagi has shown how art can be revived. He transformed an abandoned copper smelter on the island of Inujima into a unique art museum that serves as a commentary on industrialisation and modernisation.

On Momoshima Island, he launched Art Base in an abandoned school building to provide artists with a cost-effective space for their work. He gradually converted other structures, like a disused theatre, into permanent art installations.

“I wanted to shed light on the exploitative connection of cities with remote islands, which, for example, were becoming land for urban waste. I hope that focusing on art as the purpose and not the means would ultimately lead to revitalising the islands, where depopulation has been progressing,” says Yanagi.

The gateway to slow living

My exploration of the region concludes on Shodoshima, one of the larger islands in the Seto Inland Sea. Here, the Triennale has shaped local communities in unexpected ways.

Past installations remain in situ, juxtaposed with scenes of daily life, and the creative spirit has inspired residents to start their projects, like a new yokai museum dedicated to Japan’s supernatural folkloric creatures.

But it was Shodoshima’s culture that captured my imagination. Interestingly, the Booking.com AI trip planner introduced me to its 400-year history as a centre of shoyu soy sauce production and its origins in Japanese olive oil production.

These sites today offer travellers a tangible — and tasty — connection to the island’s carefully preserved traditional means of livelihood.

On my final evening, the view of the setting sun over the inland sea from my coastal apartment put me in a contemplative mood. Yet, I was not melancholic because I realised that while I had come for the art, I would return for its way of life.

Where to stay on Japan’s creative coast

From ryokans to laidback apartments, Booking.com offers a variety of stays for a relatively undiscovered region in Japan

A&A Okayama

A conceptual project between international artists and Japanese architects in Okayama city, staying in either of the two featured guest houses feels like being immersed in an art installation.

Ryori Ryokan Tsurugata

Situated in an Edo-era building in Kurashiki Bikan, this ryokan offers atmospheric Japanese-style tatami rooms, Japanese baths, and traditional omakase-style meals.

Setouchi SUP Resort Ao

This light-filled apartment on Shodoshima is thoughtfully kitted out with modern conveniences, including a kitchen and high-tech Japanese bathroom — mere footsteps from the turquoise beach.