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Ed Peters

The made-for-Instagram descent into Takamatsu Airport follows the coast of Japan’s Shikoku island for several minutes before dipping down onto the runway and terminal where there is likely to be only a single other aircraft.
Immigration is almost spookily free of other passengers, while the drugs detector dog gambolling about baggage reclaim looks as if he would be perfectly content to run and fetch a frisbee.
This seems not so much an airport as an aviation-themed de-stress resort.
It is just a few steps – past airy lounges dotted with armchairs designed by artisanal woodworker George Nakashima – into the fresh air and the panorama that looks down onto the city proper.

There are dozens of reasons to visit Takamatsu, not least of which is the city’s ultra-laid-back seaside ambience. And with the yen so weak, it is by no means a pricey holiday destination.
Set lunches can be had for as little as 900 yen (US$6), electric scooters rent for 180 yen per hour, and the 100 yen shops – homeware, make-up, stationery, bags and every other sort of quirky knick and knack – rank as a retail fun fair.
After a day or so, being bowed to – and reciprocating – at every social and commercial encounter starts to feel natural, while getting thanked effusively simply for occupying restaurant or taxi seats soon seems the norm.
Even the more humble sort of hotel, at around 11,000 yen a night, comes equipped with a deep tub and a lavatory enhanced with heated seat, sprinkler and blow dryer.
One of the august pleasures of Takamatsu is shopping. Not the humdrum mechanics of handing over cash for goods, but the luxurious frisson that comes from meandering through the city’s soaring covered shopping arcade, which embraces eight connecting streets that at a total length of just under 3km (2 miles) is claimed as the longest in the country.



The layout is intriguingly haphazard. A few doors down from Gucci, a second-hand shop does brisk business selling odds and ends to help impoverished Cambodian children.
A no-nonsense ironmongery – hammers, chisels, axes, bales of wire and a proprietor who looks as if he knows how to handle the lot – sits next to a hip clothing store called Zoo: funky threads, anthropomorphic mannequins and the sort of clientele at home with both.
A sign above a barber’s declares: “Butchering our speciality. Glue no extra charge,” which either shows a warped sense of humour or a wayward translation app.
Most of the outlets are small independents, although the arcades are anchored by Mitsukoshi. On top of being an utterly fancy department store – founded in 1673 to sell kimonos in Edo, as Tokyo was then called – Mitsukoshi is an entertainment in itself.
An aproned bladesmith with a veritable armoury of choppers, knives and similarly scary steelware looks as if he is just itching to demonstrate how he can chop something into tiny pieces in seconds.
A frock-coated shopwalker escorts an obviously high-net-worth customer as he purses his lips over his various purchases.
Meanwhile, Legend – a ladies-who-lunch restaurant on the top floor – combines marine vistas with Japanese, Western and Chinese dishes and the sort of refined hush normally associated with a library reading room.


Back outside in the arcade, there is a piano for anyone who fancies tickling the ivories, and a distinct absence of beggars, buskers, hucksters and anyone else who might interfere with Takamatsu’s brand of retail therapy.
The theme continues on the waterfront at Kitahama Alley, a jumbled collection of former warehouses and residences that have been converted into cafes, variety shops and one-of-a-kind stores that make for a restful hour or so’s browsing.
The waterfront is right next to the JR Station and is dominated by the 151-metre-high (496-foot) Takamatsu Symbol Tower, the only skyscraper of note in the city and a very handy landmark. It is also where you can get a ferry to the island of Naoshima, which for many is the main reason to come to Takamatsu.
Thanks to the vision – plus very deep pockets – of a single man, Naoshima has become one of the country’s foremost arts venues.
Septuagenarian billionaire Soichiro Fukutake may not be as well known as Solomon Guggenheim or Henry Tate, but he certainly should be. Since the early 1990s, he has inspired the gradual transformation of Naoshima into an artistic Arcadia.

Perhaps the island’s best-known museum is Benesse House, which includes a hotel, but there are half a dozen others all within reasonably easy reach of each other by bus or hired bike.
As well as masterpieces by Japanese artists, there are works by the likes of Hockney and Giacometti. For anyone unwilling to fork out the price of admission, outdoor installations such as the stark-white origami-like Naoshima Pavilion, created by Sou Fujimoto; José de Guimarães’ Bunraku Puppet; and the Red Pumpkin, imagined by Yayoi Kusama and the star of a zillion selfies, greets arrivals at Miyanoura Port and are at once humorous and thought-provoking.
Even more fun is the I Love Yu bathhouse, tucked away in Miyanoura’s backstreets. Rather than the slightly austere interiors usually associated with Japanese communal bathhouses, it is decorated with recycled objects, a collage of erotica on the floor, and extensive tile murals, while light streams through the brightly painted glass ceiling. With entry at 660 yen – half-price for youngsters – I Love Yu is as inexpensive as it is immersive, as well as being kind of cool.
Finally, like just about anywhere in Japan, the food in Takamatsu is exquisite. Sanuki Udon noodles, the spicy grilled chicken leg called honetsuki-dori, and – obviously – seafood from the Seto Inland Sea jostle for a position at the top of the Gotta-Come-Back-Here-Again menu.
The taste speaks for itself; the triumph really comes in painstaking presentation, perfectly balanced proportions and the sheer courtesy with which patrons are ushered to their seats, proffered the menu, served their meal and thanked for their custom, whether in a pristine upmarket restaurant or a gritty salarymans’ yakitori joint. This is dining meets art.


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What to do in Takamatsu, a shopping, art and seaside hotspot on Japan’s Shikoku island

Two people pose for a photo seated on Red Pumpkin by Yayoi Kusama on Naoshima island, Takamatsu, Japan. Photo: Ed Peters

Two people pose for a photo seated on Red Pumpkin by Yayoi Kusama on Naoshima island, Takamatsu, Japan. The island is one of Japan’s foremost arts venues and should rank high on any list of what to do in Takamatsu. Photo: Ed Peters

Takamatsu Port is on the city’s northern waterfront area. Photo: Ed Peters

The entrance to the Tamachi shopping street, part of Takamatsu’s sprawling shopping arcade. Photo: Ed Peters

The hip Zoo clothing store in Takamatsu’s shopping arcade. Photo: Ed Peters

Kimonos for sale at a shop in Takamatsu. Photo: Ed Peters

Dishes at Legend, a restaurant on the top floor of the Mitsukoshi department store. Photo: Ed Peters

Takamatsu Castle, near the city’s waterfront. Photo: Ed Peters

A colourful shop in Naoshima. Photo: Ed Peters

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Lifestyle

Travel & Leisure

From Japan’s longest shopping arcade to Naoshima island’s art paradise, Takamatsu is especially attractive right now with the weak yen


From Japan’s longest shopping arcade to Naoshima island’s art paradise, Takamatsu is especially attractive right now with the weak yen.


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Japan

Tourism