Naoshima Island

Naoshima Island, set in the Seto Inland Sea, has quietly become one of the world’s more unlikely art destinations. The Chichu Art Museum is built almost entirely underground, letting natural light shape the experience of works by Monet and James Turrell, while Yayoi Kusama’s yellow pumpkin sculpture sits on the waterfront as the island’s unofficial emblem. It rewards a couple of unhurried days rather than a quick stop, with galleries scattered across the island best reached on foot or by bicycle.