Today, I’m going to briefly tell you about Kō, this charming little village located on the south-west coast of Teshima and that is the home of about 85 people.
While Teshima‘s two main villages, Karato and Ieura are mostly fishermen villages, most of Kō‘s people used to work in a nearby stone quarry that is now closed. Today, most of the people living in the village are retired and cultivate vegetable fields, fruit trees and rice paddies, which allow them to almost be self-sufficient as far as food goes.
The mood of the village seemed to be very welcoming and warm, actually the very sweet old lady that we met was from there.
During the Setouchi International Art Festival, Kō housed for artworks (the first three having been created by Australian artists):
• Harmonica
• Luck Exists in the Leftovers
• Sea-songs of the Subconscious
• Farther Memory (this one will stay open most likely permanently)
All in all, Kō is an incredibly charming small village that I warmly advise you to visit if you ever go to Teshima (a thing I warmly advise you to do too). Sadly and despite the success of the Festival, I’m afraid that Kō won’t get much of the benefits that Ieura and Karato will most likely receive. Ieura is where most visitors of Teshima will land, Karato is where most of the permanent works of art are located, Kō is a little bit out of the way, sadly. Let’s hope that in the future, and especially for the 2013 edition of the Setouchi International Art Festival, more permanent works will be set in Kō, so that Teshima can really become a second Naoshima.
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it looks very lovely and inviting in the summer, but I wouldn’t want to live there year round, winters must be quite harsh.
I’m not too sure (I haven’t been there neither in the Winter nor the Summer, just Fall and Spring), but this is the Setouchi region.
Summer are above 30 degrees for two months and it rarely freezes in Winter (it did this past Winter, though).
I like this kind of weather, but I know not everybody does. 🙂
I also think this place isn’t very cold during the winter.
I want to live such a place if I can work there.
I think that the most problem of these place is few job offer.
I hear you.
This is actually the only reason why I don’t live in Japan right now. (yes, I’m sure I could find a job in Tokyo, but sorry, no more big city for me, 5 years in Paris was enough). 🙂
(ok, to be fair, if I spoke Japanese, I’m sure I could find jobs in smaller cities too, I really need to learn it faster)