Day 3 - Saturday April 22, 2017 - Teshima
Today we’re off to the Teshima Art Museum.
We take the 8.40 ferry to Kataro (on the northeast of the island) stopping at Ieura (on the northwest of the island) on the way and arriving at 9.20. There is a bus (Y200) that links one port to the other (and first stop is the Teshima Art Museum). It runs seven times a day – we arrive at 9.20, first bus was at 8.50, next one isn’t until 10.25. Did I say that the ferry and bus company had conspired to make their services as uncoordinated as possible? We decide to walk. It’s a beautiful day, increasingly hot – and the 20 minute walk is uphill (steeply in parts) so we’re pretty hot and sweaty by the time we arrive. The gate to the car park/entrance is closed, with a few fellow walkers already waiting. There were some bench seats under an awning on the far side of the car park, so we walk round the (closed) boom gate and head for those seats in the shade. The sensor-triggered pre-recorded announcement at the side of the gate was all in Japanese so we opted to ignore it though it no doubt it said ‘Don’t do that, we’re not open!’
The museum opens at 10.00 am. The only exhibit at the museum is the building itself and they only admit a limited number of people at a time, so the guide books have dire warnings about arriving early, having to get a timed ticket when you arrive etc. At 9.55, up rolls a tour bus that disgorges a group of 30+ visitors, who are promptly ushered in, much to our dismay and that of our fellow ‘early arrivers’, most of whom had by now joined us illicitly in the shade.
We eventually get our tickets and, as required, follow the path around to the entrance. You have to take your shoes off and this proved to be a long drawn out process as we stood in line for 20+ minutes or so waiting our turn, not helped by the tour group who had been ushered in ahead of us. Eventually it’s our turn and we take our shoes off before listening to the lady patiently explain to us ‘not to step on the water’.
The building is a large concrete dome, perhaps 50 yards across and 15 feet high in the middle, with two large cut-outs to let in light. The entrance was a bit like entering an igloo. On the floor underneath the cut-outs were various water droplets that would periodically coalesce and roll across the ever-so-slightly-inclined concrete floor to coalesce with other droplets before going who knows where? As you stand there wondering where the water is coming from, you eventually realize there are tiny holes – not much more than a pinprick – in the concrete floor. Every now and then, these would go ‘blurp’ and a dessert spoon sized blob of water would appear and sit there …. until it too decided to start rolling across the concrete floor, coalescing as it went. It sounds completely naff but was fascinating in its own way. Like the museums on Naoshima, no photos allowed so the best I could manage were a couple of sneaky shots through the igloo door as we passed by again after going outside to put on our shoes.
The cafe also required you to take your shoes off – we took one look at that and said ‘no thanks’ and headed for the gate – just in time to see that ‘it only runs 7 times a day’ bus go by. Oh well, just have to walk again.
Having missed the it-only-runs-7-times-a-day bus, we walked on to the village of Teshimakarato, primarily to check out Shima Kitchen. As far as we could figure out, the bus deviated from the main road to make a stop in the village, so the first order of business was to find the bus stop so we could be in position when the bus next appeared.
We found Shima Kitchen just as it was opening so went in for an early lunch. We both had the curry set, which is based on a recipe developed by some of the local ladies – who indeed were busy in the kitchen. Simple to look at but it was excellent and the salad was amazingly fresh – must have just been picked from the local vegetable patch.
We had quite a wait for the bus so had a wander round and then went and sat at the bus stop. The bus eventually turned up but had only one empty seat so I had to perch on one of the ‘extra’ seats that folded down into the aisle. We got to Ieura port ok to catch the ferry but had a long wait to do so – did I mention that the bus and ferry companies seemed to have gone out of their way to make their schedules as uncoordinated as possible? The waiting room seats at the ferry had a very nice selection of woolen crochet mats for you to sit on.
After we got back, we went and had a coffee and an iced matcha (otherwise known as ‘frozen pond scum’) before heading back to the hotel, where we sat in the lounge/cafe and had a drink. For dinner, we went to Hakkenden, a local yakitori restaurant. It was fairly quiet when we got there but had filled up considerably by the time we left.