Japan Trip // Teshima & Inujima Day 6: Inspired

So we all like to make fun of K-drama tropes like being stuck on a remote island because you missed the last bus or ferry, but after this trip I've realized it truly could happen, especially if you're spontaneous travelers like we are. Bus and ferry times don't align. In fact, they contradict each other. A bus will arrive five minutes after the ferry leaves. Which meant that we had to wake up really early to catch a bus to the ferry and then wait an hour for the ferry.

Anyhow, we finally make it to Teshima and it's totally worth it!

Teshima Art Museum

So glad we came all the way to the remote island of Teshima to see this one piece of art. It's an amazing piece of art housed in an equally amazing building that complements it perfectly.

And of course because bus and ferry times don't match, we had to walk back to the ferry. Except what we thought would be a 40 minute walk turned out to be an hour or more walk, so out of desperation, we tried to hitchhike, and actually succeeded! A selfie to commemorate my first time hitchhiking. Which by the way is a totally legit form of transportation on remote islands in Japan. Just you need to know at least a little Japanese.

Thanks to the Good Samaritan we were able to make it to the ferry on time and hop on over to Inujima.

Inujima Seirensho Art Museum

This museum is by far my number one favorite museum that we visited on this trip. It was really inspiring for me and presented in a fun and meaningful way. Honestly, for the past year I've been worrying over my future, my career, what I want to do with my life, etc, but this museum reinstated my self-confidence. It showed me that if you just take the time to reflect and look from a different perspective, you probably have more options than you thought you did, so stop yourself from going further down the rabbit hole!

For reference the museum is inspired by Yukio Mishima, a famous Japanese Nobel author, who was quite a character himself (I mean who does seppuku to themselves in the 20th century?!) The museum grounds and parts of the building used to be an old copper refinery. Won't give any more details and spoil the surprise. It's best to go with a clean slate and no preconceptions.

Inujima Art House Project

Like Naoshima, Inujima also has an art house project. Here are two of my favorites. 

For once we could interact with the art. The exhibit was a bunch of differently sized and methodically placed hammocks.

As I was walking along a path surrounded by foliage, I jumped in shock at the sight of this orange thing walking sideways. At first it passed too quickly for me to realize what it was, but then I waited for it to reemerge and...

It's a crab! They were everywhere....guess they got washed ashore? Apparently they're not the edible kind though (I asked the Japanese girl who worked at the museum and she thought I was crazy for asking such a question ahahaha)

And that concludes our day! Can't believe the trip is already half over!!