Isamu Noguchi Garden Museum — Attraction in Takamatsu

Very Disappointing Visit – Not Recommended

I was very disappointed with my visit to the Isamu Noguchi. The guide only spoke Japanese and barely any English, so we received no information during the tour. I expected to visit the artist's house, but instead, we could only glimpse it from the outside—through a window and behind bars—which made it nearly impossible to see anything clearly.

The visit is limited to just one hour, and everything feels rushed. There is no time to appreciate the place properly, and we finished the tour without learning anything meaningful about Noguchi or his work.

For the high price of the ticket, the experience was extremely underwhelming. On top of that, the foundation is located in a rather remote area of Takamatsu, and the return journey is difficult due to the limited number of buses.

I absolutely do not...

Pros:

Noguchi's work has a profound impact in this environment - I think the commute out to Mure gives a sense of pilgrimage. Walking through the town, it's clear that this is a place where masonry, and stone, are important. Supposedly, much has been left untouched since this was an active workshop, and things are pleasingly spartan.

Cons: It costs 3300 yen, which feels like a lot for a the semi-chaperoned tour of about an hour and 10 minutes. It's strongly tailored to Japanese speakers (fair enough), although I think most of the work speaks for itself. As someone who doesn't really like guided tours, I would much rather have had freedom to explore.

A reluctant 4 stars: sublime sculpture in a small-town setting, but boy do they really bleed you dry for it.

If you know you're gonna be into it...

The sight is not easily accessible. Walking distance from Kotoden Yakuri Station is 1.5km, no Taxi, and you need a pre-reservation. The sight mostly exhibits work-in-progress. Therefore you can gain a good impression about Noguchi's working and living environment but not so much about his works. For his Brooklyn museum it is just the other way around. The personnel is friendly and helpful with limited English explanations. The "no photographs" restriction is executed as obsessivly as absurd as for most other sightseeing places in Japan. Fotos do not damage the sculptures and do not disrupt others religious sentiments. May be over a longer timeframe the Japanese bureaucratists will come to the same conclusion. Unfortunately no print for sale to compensate this shortage in...