Art House Project: Minamidera — Attraction in Naoshima

The exhibit itself is cool, really enjoyed it. Sadly, the older gentleman at the entrance was rude to me, which spoiled the whole experience. I arrived at my allotted 11:05am time, and he went through the queue and got to me, said “no more people” curtly. There were no people behind me, so it felt like I was being singled out. He turned away and didn’t explain at all, so I asked when is the next time, he, again curtly, barked “15 minutes”.

Look, I understand if there’s a limit to how many people fit, but leaving one person out, giving no explanation, then just being grumpy, is not how I’d handle this. I would squeeze the extra in, or kindly explain why they can’t go over the allotted number each session and ask politely if they can wait.

To make things more hilarious, when I came back 10 minutes later, he again went through the queue ahead of me (smaller now than the last session) and again cut it off before me. Obviously wasn’t a fan of mine…

I explained this was the second time I’d be waiting and he caved, brought me to the front to let me in, but (probably to have the last laugh), condescendingly instructed me, talking at me like a child in front of the whole queue, to turn off my phone, put it in my pocket, put my island map leaflet in my pocket, before leading me in.

Now, I am not some Karen, in fact I am well travelled, incredibly polite, haven’t written a bad review yet in 5 weeks in Japan. However, this was just plain rude and a bad experience. I doubt it, but hope someone reads this and has a chat to staff to ask them to be...

I visited here 11 years ago, and after going through some of the comments being confused about the experience, I thought I would share my time there.

You're quietly led into a room by a guide where you're sat onto a bench - in the pitch black. The guide likely won't give you any information, you're literally meant to just sit there and experience in the ~5ish minute window. As your eyes begin to adjust to the room, Turrell's piece becomes visible. But know the art is IN the experience. Turrell's art is solidified in playing with light and how our eyes respond to it. And this one is beautifully subtle. Naoshima is filled with Ando's stunning architecture and this piece fits in perfectly.

I highly recommend, but know there's nothing "lavish" here. It's extraordinarily simple. And...

Totally worth it and a must see even though the gate keepers weren’t that friendly nor helpful in giving you a heads up about what’s to come. Totally agree with a prior reviewer that had a bad experience with the rude staff. While he wasn’t directly rude, he was very condescending and treated the line of guests like we were all pre-school children. One star docked because of him. Photos are of the outside only. No cameras, phones, smart watches, or anything electric emitting light allowed. Be sure to make time for this as the last showing is before the time everything...