Naoshima

Naoshima is a hilly island with a circumference of 16km located in Seto Inland Sea, the body of water between the islands of Honshu, Shikoku and Kyushu.

A secluded island lies in the middle of Japan's Inland Sea. To its north is a huge factory owned by Mitsubishi. Ominously, austere signs with lightning flashes warn trespassers against violating its ground. To the south, a rich and secretive benefactor has spent millions of pounds building two underground museums and a hotel complex.

Most of the island's residents walk around silently in boiler suits displaying the logo of one organisation or the other, while the rest busy themselves with fishing nets, seemingly oblivious to what is goimg on around them.

Most people have other reasons for coming to Naoshima. And, aside from the peace and tranquillity, many visit the island's other museums of the Benesse Foundation. The organisation is owned by Soichiro Fukutake, a Japanese industrialist and the 645th richest man on the planet. Fukutake. whose company publishes the Berlitz language books, is worth £600 million, a sizeable chunk of which he gave renowned architect Tadao Ando to design spaces worthy of housing a collection that includes five Matisses, two Hockneys, a Warhol and a Pollock.

Naoshima is a good five hours by bullet train and ferry from Tokyo. The two art museums are truly amazing structures, nestled beneath the hills of Naoshima but equally impressive is another Benesse project on the island called Standard 2. Here the corporation has bought a number of old fishermen's houses, which have been converted into installations that make the village a living, breathing art project. Visitors are given an iPod when doing the rounds that features a specially commissioned "soundscape" by David Sylvian, ex-frontman of the band Japan. Museum curator Kayo Tukada admits that the project is not wholly benevolent, Fukutake gets some serious tax relief by putting his collection on show to the public, but says the project has benefited the islanders.