Kagawa: Another Art Museum Designed by Tadao Ando Opens on Naoshima Island; Features Artists from Asia

The Yomiuri Shimbun
People enter Naoshima New Art Museum in the town of Naoshima in Kagawa Prefecture.
NAOSHIMA, Kagawa — Naoshima New Art Museum, designed by world-renowned architect Tadao Ando, has recently opened on Naoshima Island in Kagawa Prefecture.
Naoshima is known as an island of contemporary art. While there are many works by Western artists there, the new museum collects and exhibits works by artists from Asian countries and regions. The island is home to Chichu Art Musuem, which was also designed by Ando. The museum has become a popular tourist spot.
The new museum is built on a hill. The exterior is designed to naturally blend in with local houses and the surrounding nature. The obtusely angled large roof looks as if it is an extension of the gentle curve of the hilltop. Black plaster is used for part of the walls, inspired by the burnt cedar walls of many houses in the neighborhood. The museum houses a cafe, too, from which visitors get a great view of the Seto Inland Sea.
Naoshima New Art Museum's opening ceremony was held on May 31. Many tourists visited the museum immediately after it opened.
'There're so many exhibits, and they're very modern. I feel that time flows differently here,' said a woman in her 70s.
The museum is open from 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. daily and closed on Mondays (or Tuesday if Monday is a national holiday). The entrance fee is ¥1,500 if booked at the official booking site and ¥1,700 at the gate. Admission is free for children 15 or younger.

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Learn with AIFact CheckingText to SpeechAI Summary

Related Articles

The Mainichi

19 hours ago

• The Mainichi

Retro Japan: Meiji-era school building in Okayama Pref. popular among cosplayers

TAKAHASHI, Okayama -- A wooden Meiji-era (1868-1912) building at a former elementary school in this western Japan city is a popular photo spot among cosplayers. Alarming notices, such as "regarding swords that can be drawn" and "firearms that can be brought in," appeared on the website of a certain event. What were they about? The notes were precautions for a cosplay event held at the former Fukiya Elementary School. While the "swords" and "firearms" in question referred to replicas and toys, restrictions were placed on what could be brought in to ensure safety. The wooden school building has been featured in TV dramas, movies and anime, making it a popular photo spot among cosplay enthusiasts. The event has been held at the site three times in the past. The east and west wings of the school were completed in 1900, and the main building was finished in 1909. Until its closure in March 2012, it was considered the oldest wooden school building still in use in Japan. This is an example of "pseudo-Western" school architecture representing the late Meiji era. The main building, with its clapboard siding, is symmetrically flanked by the east and west wings. The wide hallway on the main building's first floor also served as a gymnasium. Above it is a triangular truss structure framework, a distinctive feature of the pseudo-Western style. After the school closed, the building underwent preservation and repair work, and it has been open to the public since 2022. (Japanese original by Masashi Mimura, Osaka Photo and Video Department) * * * The Japanese version of this article was originally published on June 1, 2025. * * * This series explores Japan's architectural wonders and secrets of yesteryear. Read more Retro Japan articles here.

Tokyo Weekender

3 days ago

• Tokyo Weekender

‘What Do You Mean It's Not Free?' The Otoshi Trap Confusing Tokyo's Tourists

Japan's tourism boom is breaking records — and testing a few tempers. Some visitors are discovering otoshi , the surprise ¥300 appetizer they never ordered, and they're not happy about it. Quietly placed on the table at izakayas — then added to the bill — this small dish has become a recurring source of confusion, frustration and online outrage. Case in point: A recent incident at a Tokyo izakaya saw a group of six tourists erupt over a ¥3600 charge for otoshi dishes they assumed were complimentary. In fact, they were ¥300 apiece, and the cost doubled after they ordered a second round. 'No! No! Crazy!' they shouted, gesturing in disbelief as staff scrambled for translation apps. Eventually, the manager intervened. Peace was restored. But the internet took note. In English-speaking travel forums, otoshi is often labeled a 'compulsory appetizer' or 'Japan's sneaky cover charge.' But these kinds of monikers miss something important: Unlike a Western-style cover, otoshi comes with actual food. And if you're coming from a country where tipping 15 to 20 percent is standard, you're still saving money. List of Contents: Where Did Otoshi Come From? Culture Clash in a Small Dish Related Posts Where Did Otoshi Come From? To understand otoshi, you have to understand what an izakaya is — and was. These casual pubs trace their roots to the Edo period, when sake sellers began letting customers linger and drink on-site. The term izakaya literally comes from ' i ' (to stay) and ' sakaya ' (sake shop). These early drinking spots were informal, standing-room-only places where regulars sipped cheap sake and snacked on whatever the shop had on hand. As the izakaya evolved into sit-down establishments with broader menus and longer hours, the otoshi developed as a way to manage service flow and secure a basic income. As tipping is considered awkward or even rude in Japan, a small appetizer served automatically became a built-in way to compensate for seating, service and prep. Otoshi also serves a practical role. The word comes from the verb tosu , which means 'to let through' or 'to pass along.' In izakaya lingo, this refers to either the act of showing guests to their table or passing their first drink order to the kitchen — with a small appetizer offered to 'pass the time' while the food catches up. Originally, it functioned as a kind of signal: Once the otoshi was placed, staff knew the customer had officially ordered. Over time, it also became a de facto table charge — a stand-in for tipping or a service fee in a country where those customs don't exist. Unlike Korea's free-flowing banchan or Spain's gratis tapas, otoshi comes with a price tag. That alone, for some tourists, crosses the line between charming custom and sneaky upcharge. Culture Clash in a Small Dish The problem isn't the charge. It's the lack of context. Most izakayas don't explain it unless asked, and there's rarely signage. And for foreign visitors unfamiliar with Japanese dining etiquette, it can feel like a bait-and-switch. Some shops in Tokyo's Golden Gai have started removing otoshi entirely for foreign guests, raising drink prices slightly instead — only to get hit with new complaints about the 'foreigner markup.' Others are leaning into clarity, framing otoshi as a cover charge or table fee. Technically accurate, and far more palatable. 'Cover charge' is a concept most tourists understand: You pay to sit, and you get a snack. Simple. In the end, the otoshi debacle may say more about global dining expectations than about Japan. In countries where tipping is expected but often arbitrary, otoshi is arguably the more honest system: a flat, low-cost, edible cover. But when it's unexplained — and unfamiliar — it becomes a lightning rod for cultural friction. Related Posts Izakaya Owner Defends 'Japanese Language Only' Policy Rethinking Japan's Tourism Policy Foreign Visitors Continue To Flock to Japan in Record Numbers

Japan Today

5 days ago

• Japan Today

Soft power: BTS fans rally behind Korean international adoptees

By Claire LEE K-pop megaband BTS is back from military service, and their international fandom -- long known for its progressive activism -- is celebrating by rallying behind a cause: adoptees from South Korea. Now Asia's fourth-largest economy and a global cultural powerhouse, the idols' native South Korea remains one of the biggest exporters of adopted babies in the world, having sent more than 140,000 children overseas between 1955 and 1999. The country only recently acknowledged, after years of activism by adult adoptees, that the government was responsible for abuse in some such adoptions of local children, including record fabrication and inadequate consent from birth parents. The septet's fandom, dubbed ARMY, is known for backing causes like Black Lives Matter and ARMY4Palestine, and launched the #ReuniteWithBTS fundraising project last week to support Korean adoptees seeking to reconnect with or learn about their birth families, which can be a painful and legally tricky process. Almost all of BTS members have completed South Korea's mandatory military service, required of all men due to the country's military tensions with North Korea. "We are celebrating both the reunion of BTS and ARMY, and BTS members being able to reunite with their own family and friends," the BTS fan group behind the initiative, One In An ARMY, told AFP. "Helping international adoptees reunite with their birth country, culture, customs and families seemed like the perfect cause to support during this time." The fans are supporting KoRoot, a Seoul-based organization that helps Korean adoptees search for their records and birth families and which played a key role in pushing for the government to recognize adoption-related abuses. Peter Moller, KoRoot's co-representative, told AFP it was "very touching" that the BTS fans had taken up the cause, even though "they're not even adoptees themselves". For many adoptees, seeing Korean stars in mainstream media has been a way for them to find "comfort, joy, and a sense of pride" in the roots that they were cut off from, KoRoot's leader Kim Do-hyun added. BTS, who have discussed anti-Asian hate crimes at the White House and spoken candidly about mental health, have long been considered one of the best examples of South Korea's soft power reach. For years, Korean adoptees -- many of whom were adopted by white families globally -- have advocated for their rights and spoken out about encountering racism in their host countries. Some adoptees, such as the high-profile case of Adam Crapser, were later deported to South Korea as adults because their American parents never secured their U.S. citizenship. Many international adoptees feel their immigration experience has been "fraught", Keung Yoon Bae, a Korean studies professor at Georgia Institute of Technology, told AFP. Some adoptees have found that, like Crapser, their guardians failed to complete the necessary paperwork to make them legal, she said. This is becoming a particular problem under US President Donald Trump, who is pushing a sweeping crackdown on purported illegal immigrants. Bae said it was possible that "'accidentally illegal' adoptee immigrants may fall further through the cracks, and their deeply unfortunate circumstances left unremedied". Reunions between Korean adoptees and their birth families can be emotionally complex, as Kara Bos -- who grew up in the United States -- experienced firsthand when she met her biological father through a landmark paternity lawsuit. During their encounter in Seoul in 2020, he refused to remove his hat, sunglasses, or mask, declined to look at her childhood photos and offered no information about her mother. He died around six months later. "The journey of birth family searching is very lonely, difficult, and costly. Many adoptees do not even have the means to return to their birth country let alone fund a family search," Bos, 44, told AFP. To have BTS fans rally around adoptees and provide help with this complex process is "a wonderful opportunity", she said. For Malene Vestergaard, a 42-year-old Korean adoptee and BTS fan in Denmark, the group's song "Whalien 52", which references a whale species whose calls go unheard by others, deeply resonated with her. "I personally sometimes feel like that whale. Being amongst my peers, but they will never be able to truly understand what my adoption has done to me," she told AFP. "For me, finding BTS at the same time I started looking for my birth family and the truth about my adoption and my falsified papers, was such a comfort." Vestergaard said the grief woven into her adoption would never go away, but that "BTS and their lyrics have made it easier to reconcile with that truth". © 2025 AFP