【世界7位】米・NYタイムズ誌の2019年に行くべき52ヶ所に瀬戸内の島々が選定！ – 52 places to go in 2019

アメリカのニューヨークタイムズ「2023年に行くべき52カ所（52 Places for Travelers to Visit in 2023 – The New York Times）」英国・ロンドンに次いで2番目に岩手県盛岡市、19位に福岡県福岡市が選ばれました。

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アメリカのニューヨーク・タイムズ「2019年に行くべき52カ所（52 places to go in 2019）」の7位に「瀬戸内の島々（Setouchi Islands）」が選ばれました！ちなみに、1位はカリブ海の「プエルトリコ（Puerto Rico）」、2位はインドの古都ハンピ（Hampi）、3位はアメリカのサンタバーバラ（Santa Barbara）、日本では瀬戸内が唯一の選定になります。

「日本の内海にある芸術と自然の調和（Art and nature harmonize in Japan’s inland sea）」と評されています。「瀬戸内国際芸術祭（Setouchi Trienniale）」の開催地として本島や豊島に触れ、その他にも改修工事を経て4月にリニューアル・オープンする「広島平和記念資料館（Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum）」、しまなみ海道、瀬戸内に浮かぶ旅館「ガンツウ（Guntu）」、水陸両用機をつかった遊覧飛行やチャーター便「せとうちSEAPLANES（Setouchi Sea Planes）」などが紹介されています。

Setouchi islands were chosen as one of the 52 places to go in 2019 by NY times. They introduced “Setouchi Trienniale”, “Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum”, “Guntu”, “Setouchi Sea Planes” and so on.

52 Places to Go in 2019 – The New York Times

Japan’s ancient Setouchi region, which includes the Seto Inland Sea’s islands and coastal areas, will host the Setouchi Trienniale 2019, a major art fair held in three seasonal installments; sites in 2019 include the less-frequented islands of Teshima and Honjima, where you can better experience the balance of nature and art. One hour south of the “art islands” via ferry or the Shinkansen bullet train, the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, one of Japan’s most visited sites, reopens in spring 2019 after an eight-year, $51 million refurbishment. Setouchi is also looking to draw a fresh crop of cyclists, with new trails winding through local citrus and olive groves and a dedicated Shimanami bike ferry that opened in October 2018 connecting Japan’s main island of Honshu to the region’s lesser-visited island of Shikoku. For those seeking more sybaritic forms of transport, late 2017 saw the maiden voyage of Guntu — more a minimalist floating ryokan than a cruise ship — complete with 19 walnut-clad rooms and open-air cypress soaking baths. In 2019, Setouchi Sea Planes, Japan’s only sea plane company, will expand its scenic flights to several smaller islands and towns via a fleet of Kodiak 100s. And a Japanese start-up company called Ale launched — literally — the Shooting Star Challenge, a microsatellite that will create the world’s first artificial meteor shower, aiming to fill Setouchi’s skies in spring 2020, a taste of the high-tech one-upmanship to come in Tokyo’s 2020 Olympics. ADAM H. GRAHAM

Naoshima, Japan, an Unlikely Island as Art Attraction – The New York Times

ON a chilly night last November on the tiny island of Naoshima in the Seto Inland Sea of southern Japan, I found myself alone in a dark concrete gallery, a sweater pulled over my pajamas. I was staying at the Benesse House Museum, a 10-room hotel set inside a contemporary art museum, on the island’s craggy southern coast, and still battling jet lag. So instead of tossing in bed, I visited the deserted galleries of the museum — guests of the hotel are permitted to wander beyond closing time. Before long, I was transfixed by Bruce Nauman’s art installation, “100 Live and Die,” a neon billboard of flashing phrases.