48 Hours on Japan's Art Island, Naoshima, Japan

There's something about arriving at a destination by boat that makes the travel experience infinitely more exciting. On our approach to Naoshima, one of some 3,000 islands which dot Japan's Seto Inland Sea, I watched with bated breath as the isle slowly revealed itself from the ferry's window, lush undulating hills rising from placid turquoise water. The air was heavy with a thick summer haze that enveloped Naoshima in a cloak of mystery, and my eyes strained in their search for a glimpse of what we'd traversed air, land and sea to behold: art.

Naoshima's roots in the art world began rather humbly in the 1980s as a plan to create a gathering place where children could learn in an unspoiled natural environment. A camp of yurts were transported from Mongolia and erected along the island's sandy shores, where Karel Appel’s outdoor sculpture Frog and Cat became the island's first permanent art installation. It was the start of a project that would grow far beyond its initial vision: over the next 30 years the island would become a mecca for art, its site-specific installations and Tadao Ando-designed modern art museums drawing pilgrimages to the 3-mile-long island from across the globe.  ...... (follow the instructions below for accessing the rest of this article).