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Seto Inland Sea

The new Simose Art Museum in Hiroshima houses a floating, futuristic surprise next to the sea

Art appreciation begins as soon as you catch sight of the stylish building itself.

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Yayoi Kusama’s Yellow Pumpkin washed away during typhoon in Japan

Naoshima’s famous art installation badly damaged after unexpected journey out to sea.

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New environmental regulations considered for Seto Inland Sea because it has become “too pretty”

That’s one way to sum up the situation.

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Japan Travel: Exploring Manabeshima cat island

A travel destination packed with cats, not tourists. 

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An island-hopping visit to the Setouchi International Art Festival!

The Setouchi Triennale Art Festival takes place every three years on the art islands of Japan’s Seto Inland Sea–and this year is a festival year! Let’s check it out!

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We bicycle around Kitagi, island of goats, pizza and the Vagina Rock【Photos】

We’ve introduced RocketNews24 readers to Shiraishi Island and Manabe Island in the Seto Inland Sea before, but today, we’re going to take you on a tour of a sister island in the same group. Sandwiched between Shiraishijima and Manabeshima in Okayama Prefecture’s Kasaoka Island Chain is an island called Kitagishima. It’s the largest island of the group (20km around) and you need transportation to get to the sites. There is no bus service, so if you don’t have your own car or motorcycle, you really can’t see much of Kitagi. Unless, of course, you have a bicycle! Kitagi has it’s own bike path, making it perfect for a two-wheeled day-trip.

Join our bicycling reporter as she takes you on a ride, making all your dreams come true on Kitagi, an island of private beaches, home-made pizza, cute goats, a huge granite vagina (optional). At the end of the article is an original, downloadable English map. Now that’s covering ALL the bases, isn’t it? Okay, let’s go!

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Japan’s secret garbage problem–and what you can do to help

Japan is one of the cleanest countries you’ll encounter as a traveler. The inside of the bullet train is kept absolutely spotless, taxi drivers can be seen buffing their vehicles of dust and road grit while waiting for the next customer. Graffiti is rare here and men in jumpsuits are employed to scrape off gum and anything else adhered to train station floors. Glamorous and gleaming is the way the Japanese like things. Even diesel trucks are washed down in their terminals after a day on the roads.

So it’s no surprise that the city streets are litter-free, that public trash bins ask you to separate your refuse into burnable and non-burnable bins, or that the Japanese have a reputation for taking their garbage home with them when attending sporting events.

So it may have been a surprise to some of our readers when someone commented on the trashiness of Japanese beaches in response to my previous article on Japanese beach culture, saying: “The number one beach activity in Japan is actually turning it into a giant open dump, full or empty beer cans, cigarette buds, and plastics of all kinds. It’s a big paradox when you see how clean the streets are.”

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Creepy creatures from the seabed that you can eat!【Taste Test】

Although Japanese food is known the world over and Japanese restaurants can be found in almost any major city these days, many people may not be aware of a few of the finer Japanese delicacies–such as the creepy creatures from the bottom of the sea–that you can eat.

When you think of the seabed, if you think of a place that is dark, murky, and full of scary creatures such as giant squid and sea monsters, then perfect! Because today we’re going to meet some of those guys’ roommates.

Join our not-so-intrepid island reporter who prefers to pass when it comes to dining on the low-life relegated to the muck on the seabed. She skips out on the taste tests and instead grabs an unsuspecting foreign visitor to try out some of Japan’s more esoteric treats.

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We go octopus hunting, learn how to turn octopus heads inside-out

The Octopus is a mysterious creature. So mysterious he has even been suspected of murder. But in Japan, the octopus is usually first met on the plate. Whether as an ingredient in salad or Sexual Harassment sushi the octopus is considered the most efficient seafood because there is no waste–every part of the octopus is eaten–even the head.

Today, we invite you along on a virtual octopus hunt. Join our cephalopod-hunting reporter as she shows you not only how to catch an octopus, but how to turn its head inside out. As an added bonus, by the end of the article, you’ll have a full understanding as to why the mollusk’s scientific name is “octopus vulgaris.”

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Why French tourists are flocking to a tiny island of 230 people in Japan’s Inland Sea

When people think of international travelers visiting an island in the Seto Inland Sea, they may think of Naoshima, where the International Art Festival is located, or perhaps Shiraishi Island, with its international villa for foreign guests. But French tourists are heading somewhere else–to a tiny island of just 230 people. Although the place is known as one of Japan’s cat islands, that’s not why French tourists go to this island. And even though Ken Watanabe, Masako Natsume and Hiromi Go have been there, the French go for a completely different reason than they did. Our floating reporter takes a ferry to the remote island to find out what makes it so popular with French tourists.

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