Japan Trip

May 27, 2020 7:49 EDT

Photos are in miscellaneous order. Photographed with Contax T2.

Every quarter our Japan distributor for Afield Out does an exhibition to show our next season collection. We decided to make a work/leisure trip and head over there. On this trip, we planned our first leg to be in Tokyo, then to Kyoto and Naoshima. Adding Kyoto and Naoshima was a great transition from all the city hustle-and-bustle. It was a good opportunity to take a break from retail R&D which usually consumes a lot of our time. 

My friend Fran highly recommended Naoshima. I asked her any suggestions about what I should do in Japan and she immediately said this place was a must visit. Naoshima, commonly known as Japan’s art island, is a tiny island in the Seto Inland Sea. It’s known for being this super rural island that features some of the most amazing contemporary art, and architecture. Words really can’t describe how inspiring this place was. Our days on this island consisted of renting out bikes and cycling around the small island ( its a very small island) to visit different museums, installations, and art landmarks. There was work from some of my favorites such as James Turrell, Yayo Kusama, Alexander Calder, Tadao Ando placed throughout the town.

The only gnarly thing was that Naoshima is such a pain to get to. Its not difficult but takes a lot of time. From taking a Bullet, to hopping on trains, and then a boat to get to the island it felt like the amazing race. It was totally worth it and I hope to at least do it once again in my lifetime.