For an oddly fascinating and unique museum experience, visit this 'heartbeat archive' on a small bay near the Karato Port area. There are tens of thousands of registered heartbeats from around the world, and you can listen to them played on a loop in surround sound in the very dark 'heart room'. While you're here, why not register and record your own heartbeat and get a keepsake CD (¥1540)?
Les Archives du Cœur
Western Honshū
Lonely Planet's must-see attractions
26.81 MILES
Konpira-san or, more formally, Kotohira-gū, was originally a Buddhist and Shintō temple dedicated to the guardian of mariners. It became exclusively a…
15.7 MILES
Kōraku-en draws the crowds with its reputation as one of the three most beautiful gardens in Japan. It has expansive lawns broken up by ponds, teahouses…
11.38 MILES
One of the most beautiful gardens in the country, Ritsurin-kōen dates from the mid-1600s and took more than a century to complete. Designed as a walking…
6.48 MILES
In Honmura, half a dozen traditional buildings have been turned over to contemporary artists to use as the setting for creative installations, often…
25.96 MILES
Zentsū-ji, Temple 75 of the sacred 88, is the largest of the temples – most of the other 87 could fit in its car park. This is where Kōbō Daishi was born,…
0.67 MILES
Teshima's art 'museum' impresses for its architecture – a monumental concrete shell, forming a low teardrop-shaped dome on the hillside, designed by Tokyo…
9.94 MILES
About 500m north of Yashima station, Shikoku-mura is an excellent village museum that houses old buildings transported here from all over Shikoku and…
22.19 MILES
This small castle dates from 1597. It took five years to build and is one of only 12 castles in Japan to have its original wooden donjon intact. It's…
Nearby Western Honshū attractions
0.67 MILES
Teshima's art 'museum' impresses for its architecture – a monumental concrete shell, forming a low teardrop-shaped dome on the hillside, designed by Tokyo…
2.48 MILES
Close to Ieura Port, an old house has been converted into exhibition spaces, with a colourful take on a traditional Japanese rock garden outside (which…
4.93 MILES
Legend (or marketing) says if you stroll this sandbar dubbed 'Angel Road' with your loved one, your heart's desire will come true. In reality it's three…
4. Inujima Seirensho Art Museum
5.23 MILES
The drawcard of little Inujima island is this copper refinery converted into an eco-building, displaying artist Yanagi Yukinori's surreal take on the…
6.28 MILES
One of the sites in the Art House Project collection, this is Hiroshi Sugimoto's play on the traditional Go'o Shrine, with a glass staircase and a very…
6.39 MILES
Minamidera, one of the sites within the Art House Project, is a James Turrell experiment with light. Queue up to enter in total darkness…and wait…
6.48 MILES
In Honmura, half a dozen traditional buildings have been turned over to contemporary artists to use as the setting for creative installations, often…
6.49 MILES
The shack-like Haisha by Shinro Ohtake is a highlight of the Art House Project collection of sites, notable for its Statue of Liberty sculpture, which…