Chichu Art Museum — Attraction in Naoshima

The Chichu Art Museum, designed by Tadao Ando, was one of the highlights of my trip to Japan. Just walking through the space is an experience in itself. Chichu means underground, and that meaning is central to how you experience the museum. So keep this in mind when walking around. Built below the surface, the architecture makes you feel as if you’re moving through the earth itself. It spans multiple levels, alternating between indoor and outdoor spaces. At first, it can feel a little disorienting, which actually adds to the atmosphere and encourages you to slow down and notice more. I visited on a rainy day, which made it even more special. The sound and mood of the rain added something really unique.

It’s worth noting that the museum only has four rooms with art installations. Technically, you could be in and out in 20 minutes. But don’t rush. Take your time in each room. I spent 90 minutes inside and left in absolute awe.

The only downside is that it can get quite busy, even with the reservation system. I highly recommend booking the first time slot of the day, or one around 17:00 or slightly earlier. Since most people don’t stay long, the museum tends to clear out a by 17:30 and only a few people are left at 17:50. Walking around with no one else in sight and having some rooms to yourself is an unforgettable experience.

The ticket is absolutely worth the price. The space, the curation, and the overall experience is unlike anything else. That said, it is on the expensive side, and I do think art should be more accessible to everyone.

Here are a few tips on how to enjoy each room fully, without giving too much away:

The Walter De Maria Room, the one with stairs and a large sphere in the middle (ideal time is right at opening or just before closing): Walk in slowly. Go up and down the stairs slowly and stand in different spots, really taking your time taking it all in. The space changes depending on your position, and you’ll notice different reflections in the sphere. If you’re lucky, you’ll have the whole room to yourself.

The Monet Room (ideal time is right at opening or just before closing): Take your time walking around. Pause in front of each painting and just observe them for a while. If you have the room to yourself, it feels like a rare luxury and you will feel rich.

James Turrell’s Open sky: This room is often overlooked, but it’s truly special. Sit down and look up. The sky becomes a moving painting. Rain makes it extra atmospheric, with the sound of rain and water falling on the floor. On cloudy days, the movement of sky is hypnotic. On sunny days, the contrast of the blue sky is striking. Use this space as a chance to slow down and just be present.

James Turrell’s light projection: You’ll likely need to queue. You’ll take off your shoes and be guided to a set of stairs. Before going up, spend a moment looking at what seems like a glowing screen. Then, walk slowly up the steps. Once inside, move around gently and take time to observe how the...

The viewing experience seemed very controlled and not calming. Everything was very strict, from telling people where to stand and wait, to not allowing any photography, as if it would stop people from going to the museum if they saw the pictures. The white robes of the staff and the brutalist bare concrete building of Tadao Ando with sharp corners did not help the almost detention-camp feeling.

I can see how the rules which were enforced should have made people enjoy the art more: Minimizing the crowd inside the galleries, letting you enjoy the art not only through the screen of your camera, and creating a feeling of honor towards the art by taking off your shoes. But in reality it makes the experience unenjoyable by creating long queues to enter every room, creating a feeling of being scammed by not allowing photography, and by making it bothersome by having to take off and put on your shoes repeatedly.

Even though we ordered tickets in advance for a certain time slot, we had to wait in considerable queues inside the museum.

The museum features only 3 exhibitions, where two of them contained only one room. One room with 5 pictures of Monet water lilies, one room by Walter De Maria containing a 2 meter diameter sphere made of granite, and wooden planks around the walls covered in gold, and three rooms by James Turrell which use light as the subject of the art (1 room with a projection on the wall, 1 room with a rectangular opening in the ceiling, and one room with a sloped floor lighted by an LED screen on one side, and LED strips from the other side which you enter after climbing some stairs into it).

The Monet paintings are great, but nothing new for people who visited any museums with his water lily paintings, the Walter De Maria room was pretty impressive, and I also liked the James Turrel open ceiling room (the LED room was also interesting in concept. It feels like going into a painting, and the sloped floor made a nice 3D effect).

If the museum was not as strictly supervised, did not cost north of 2000 yen for 5 rooms, and allowed to take pictures (for me, taking pictures makes me look for different angles and view points, which helps me appreciate architecture and design more), it could have been a very positive and interesting experience. Sadly, this is...

I've been to hundreds of art museums around the world and this was among the most disappointing. It's a huge concrete monstrosity of a building with practically no art inside. There are only works from 4 artists inside this confusingly designed building. You have to reserve your timed ticket well in advance yet you can't reserve the ferry (same day sales only) so it's very challenging to know what time to reserve a ticket for. I was early for my time slot and observed dozens of people being turned away (most who had spent hours getting to the island, then getting to the museum only to find it booked the entire day) who hadn't thought a reservation was needed. It would be helpful to place signs at the ferry terminals letting people know in advance that the museum was soldout to keep them from wasting the better part of a day on the journey. Once inside the museum the layout is very confusing as you wander around looking for some art. The 5 Monet paintings are quite basic and you have to remove your shoes before entering the room. Then you visit the Turrell work where we waited in a long, slow line since only 8 were permitted to view it at a time. Again, the shoes had to come off. It's just a green light in a large room. There was another work that was literally just piles of rocks. The final work was by De Maria and was easily the most interesting of the works. That's it for the entire museum content. The staff was nice and helpful but the quality of the experience wasn't worth the effort. The Benesee House Museum wasn't much better. One big improvement that would help all visitors would be creating an online reservation system for the ferries! I had to arrive 90 minutes before my ferry departure in order to get a seat. Many people that arrived later found out that the ferry was soldout and the next one was hours later. People were arriving at museums well past their reserved time slots because they hadn't been able to get on earlier ferries. Just a frustrating experience for...