Naoshima, Kagawa

Template:Nihongo is an island in Japan's Seto Inland Sea, part of Kagawa Prefecture. The island is best known for its many contemporary art installations and museums. The Template:Nihongo administers Naoshima and 26 smaller islands nearby.<ref name="town_naoshima_lg_jp2">Template:Cite web</ref> As of 2020, the town has an estimated population of 3,026<ref name="Prefpopulation2">Template:Cite web</ref> and a density of 210 persons per km². The total area is 14.22 km².<ref name=":02">Template:Cite web</ref>

Naoshima Island is known for its many contemporary art museums. For example, the Chichu Art Museum (literally, "in the earth") houses a number of site-specific installations by James Turrell, Walter De Maria, and paintings by Claude Monet. Designed by Tadao Ando, it is located on one of the highest points of the island, and various exhibits and facets of the museum's architecture take advantage of its commanding view. Another contemporary museum (and hotel) is Benesse House, also by Ando. Another is the Naoshima Fukutake Art Museum, with an outdoor sculpture garden, and a third is the James Bond museum, inspired by the island's use as one of the settings for the 2002 Bond novel The Man with the Red Tattoo by Raymond Benson.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> It is also known as the island that the fictional locations of Summer Pockets are based on.

The museums and beauty of the island draw many tourists, whose visits help support the local economy. However, it is Mitsubishi Materials, loosely affiliated with other Japanese companies of the Mitsubishi name, that dominates industry on the island, as Naoshima has been the site of massive refining by Mitsubishi since 1917. Template:Stack Benesse Corporation (one of the largest education companies in Japan and based in Okayama) has directed the creation and operation of the island's museums and other projects since the late 1980s.

Town of Naoshima and nearby islands

Naoshima was made a village in 1890, and upgraded to a town in 1954.<ref name="town_naoshima_lg_jp2" /> The town is part of Kagawa District.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Naoshima is the sister town of Timmins, Ontario, Canada.

As of 2010, only three of the town's 27 islands are inhabited: Naoshima, Byōbujima, and Mukaejima.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Ishima is also inhabited, but only in the northern portion which belongs to Okayama Prefecture.

Byōbujima

Byōbujima is a minor island north of Naoshima, close to Okayama Prefecture, with a population of 19 Template:Asof<ref name=":0">Template:Cite web</ref>

Ishima

The second-largest island of the town, Ishima, lying northeast of Naoshima, is divided between Kagawa Prefecture in the south and Okayama Prefecture in the north. The only inhabitants are in a small settlement on the north coast, belonging to Okayama.

Ishima was divided after fishing-related disputes in the Edo period.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In 2011, 87% of the island was burned in a forest fire, though the northern settlement was spared.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Mukaejima

Mukaejima is a minor island northwest of Naoshima with a population of 15 Template:Asof<ref name=":0" />

Demographics

Per Japanese census data,<ref>Naoshima population statistics</ref> the population fo Naoshima has declined over the past half-century.

References

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External links

• Template:Commons category-inline
• Official website Template:In lang
• Benesse Art Site Naoshima Template:In lang
• I Love Setouchi Template:Webarchive - Setouchi Brand
• Japon – Noashima, l’île mystérieuse Template:In lang
• Template:Wikivoyage-inline

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