Takamatsu, Kagawa

Contemporary art came to islands that were emptying out. In the Seto Inland Sea of Kagawa, an art festival is held once every three years across a scattering of islands. These were islands losing people, empty houses multiplying, fishing boats dwindling, the young moving away. Then the art came. A derelict house became a work; a vacant lot became a garden; the islanders became guides. Yayoi Kusama's polka dots stand by the shore; a museum descends underground; with each ferry crossing, the world changes. The festival did not save the islands, but it gave people a reason to visit again, which is a different thing. The seasons are spring, summer, and autumn, and most works are made by islanders and artists together. Come slowly, by boat, with the smell of the tide. A true journey, once every three years.

Fire opens over the Seto sea. Takamatsu, capital of Kagawa on the island of Shikoku, is a port town facing the Inland Sea, and the climax of its summer Sanuki festival is this display over the water at the Sunport harbor.

Eight thousand shells rise from the port, their light reflecting in the famously calm waters of the Seto, while the dark shapes of the inland islands stand in silhouette against the glow. The Inland Sea is dotted with hundreds of these islands, and on a fireworks night they become a backdrop of shadows, the fire blooming above a seascape unlike any other in Japan.

This is the city of udon—Sanuki udon, the thick chewy noodles that Kagawa is famous for across the country. A summer day here might mean a bowl of those firm noodles at noon and the sea fireworks at night. There is a mildness to the Inland Sea region, a gentleness in its sheltered waters and easy climate, and that same softness seems to settle into the fireworks too—a kind, unhurried light over a kind, unhurried sea.