Naoshima, from Takamatsu — one of a series of shore days Japan Royal Service builds for residents and guests of The World.
Naoshima has a heliport, and it sits beside the museums.
Almost nobody knows this. The island is reached by road to a ferry terminal and then by sea, and that is how the two hundred thousand people who visit it each year arrive. From Takamatsu the flight is ten to fifteen minutes and it lands on the island itself — no port, no connection, no waiting for a boat.
The other way to arrive is slower on purpose, and better.
What the island is
Naoshima spent most of the twentieth century as an industrial island — copper smelting, a company town, a landscape people left rather than travelled to. In the late 1980s the publisher Sōichirō Fukutake began buying land on the south of it and commissioning Tadao Ando.
What exists now is not a museum district. It is a set of buildings that were each designed around specific works, on an island where the works cannot be moved and the buildings cannot be visited anywhere else.
Chichu Art Museum is built into the ground so as not to break the skyline. It holds five of Monet's Water Lilies in a room lit only by daylight — no artificial light at all, which means the paintings change through the day and the museum simply closes when the light goes. Also James Turrell, and Walter De Maria's Time/Timeless/No Time, a granite sphere in a chamber the size of a church.
Benesse House is a museum you can sleep inside, also Ando, open to residents at hours the day visitors never see.
The Art House Project took empty houses in the old village of Honmura and gave each one to an artist. They are ordinary buildings on ordinary lanes, and there is no sign that any of them contains anything.
And on the pier, Yayoi Kusama's yellow pumpkin, which by now is the most photographed object in the Inland Sea.
By sea
A private catamaran is chartered whole, to one party per day. There is no other party aboard.
The crossing is about an hour. That is not the point of it — the vessel is chartered by duration, and the clock runs while she stands by, so most of a day is time at anchor or at the island rather than passage. What she really is, is a dining room and a villa that happen to float.
The salon is air-conditioned with the sea on three sides. There are three en-suite cabins below, a table for eight on the open deck, and — the detail that matters — a working galley with a gas hob, an oven and full refrigeration, and separate crew quarters.
That combination is uncommon on a vessel this size, and it is the difference between a transfer with refreshments and lunch at sea. A chef cooks aboard rather than reheating something carried on. Menus run from an Italian course to bespoke bento.
She is a twin-hull, which rolls markedly less than a monohull and holds her comfort at speed. For guests who do not often go out on the water, that is worth knowing.
You also see the art islands from the waterline, slowly, close in. No other approach gives you that.
By air
Ten to fifteen minutes from Takamatsu Airport, and the aircraft sets down at Naoshima Heliport, near the museum quarter. The island's arrangement — the way the archipelago actually sits, which is invisible from sea level — becomes the view.
On a single day that is not a small saving. It is the difference between two museums and four.
Two honest caveats.
There is no heliport in central Takamatsu, so departure is normally from Takamatsu Airport — thirty to forty minutes by car from the city. The road leg is longer than the flight. Temporary landing sites nearer the centre can be requested, and we would ask.
And the aircraft cannot fly at dusk. A sunset departure by air does not exist. Rain, strong wind or fog cancel it. A ferry fallback belongs in any itinerary that depends on flying.
Three ways to build the day
The two are not really rivals.
Air both ways. The cleanest structure and the most museum hours. The return leg has to leave with daylight in hand.
Fly in, sail out. Arrive in minutes; leave at the pace of the water, with the evening and the sunset aboard. One caveat decides it: the yacht's published piers are Uno Port in Okayama and Miyanoura on Naoshima — not Takamatsu. Uno is about ninety minutes by road from Takamatsu. This is beautiful when the journey continues into Okayama and awkward when it has to come back the same night. We are putting the Takamatsu question to the operator.
Air both ways, with the sea in the middle. The vessel stands by at Miyanoura while you are ashore, so one charter carries the cruising, the wait and a lunch at anchor, and the return flight is still comfortably inside daylight. It is the only version that gives you the Inland Sea from the air and from the water on the same day.
Booking realities
Chichu admits by timed reservation and the number is limited. Benesse House and the Art House Project have their own hours, and the island's museums do not all close on the same day.
Both the aircraft and the vessel are booked well ahead in season and should be held as soon as a date is firm. Weather cancellation on the yacht is decided by the crew on the day and carries a full refund; changes to route or timing after departure are not refundable, so the day wants a buffer in it.
What we arrange
The crossing, whichever way you want it, and the museum reservations, which have to be made in a fixed order because they open and close on different days. A guide who can talk about Ando's buildings and not only the art inside them. The catering aboard, if you sail. And the ferry fallback, because the day should not collapse if the wind gets up.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Naoshima really have a heliport?
Yes, at Kotohikiji on the island, near the museum quarter, and it is confirmed. The flight from Takamatsu Airport is ten to fifteen minutes and lands on the island itself — no port, no connection.
What is the catch with flying?
Two. There is no heliport in central Takamatsu, so departure is from Takamatsu Airport, thirty to forty minutes by car — the road leg is longer than the flight. And helicopters cannot fly at dusk, so a sunset return by air does not exist. A ferry fallback belongs in the plan.
What is the private vessel like?
A twin-hull catamaran chartered whole to one party per day: three en-suite cabins, an air-conditioned salon, a deck table for eight, and a working galley with a gas hob and oven plus separate crew quarters — so a chef cooks aboard rather than reheating.
Can the yacht collect us at Takamatsu?
Its published piers are Uno Port in Okayama and Miyanoura on Naoshima. Takamatsu is not among them, and we are putting the question to the operator rather than assuming it.
How long does the crossing take?
About an hour each way by sea. The vessel is chartered by duration and the clock runs while she stands by, so most of a day is time at the island or at anchor rather than passage.
Do the museums need booking?
Chichu admits by timed reservation with limited numbers, and the island's museums do not all close on the same day. The order in which they are booked decides the shape of the day.
For residents and guests of The World
The ship lies at Takamatsu for days, not hours. That single fact changes more than anything else on this page. A place that opens three days a week stops being a gamble. An artisan can give you a whole afternoon instead of a demonstration. Nothing has to be cut short to fit a gangway.
We are a Japanese company, working in Japanese, with the people who own these places. The arrangements are made by someone the other side already knows.
Enquiries are handled privately and directly, at japanroyalservice.com/contact. We do not publish our clients, our itineraries, or our rates.
