Seto Inland Sea and the Art Islands : a first encounter

The Seto Inland Sea of Japan, dotted with numerous islands, is lake-calm and a spectacularly beautiful part of Japan. The islands, floating on the water in the glow of renowned sunsets, are now often referred to as the Art Islands: islands filled with nature, rural activity, village life, history — and with art. In the 1980s, Tetsuhiko Fukutake, a wealthy businessman together with his son Sochiro, a collector of contemporary art, had a vision of restoring and enhancing the fortunes of the islands and their small ageing rural communities by commissioning art and architecture set in the villages, fading rural industrial precincts and natural surroundings. This vision, first realised on the island of Naoshima through the funding and efforts of the Fukutake Foundation, has since been expanded to many of the neighbouring islands such as Teshima, Inujima, Megijima and Ogijima and to the ports of Uno and Takamatsu that support and facilitate access to the islands.