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Miyanoura Bay is the gateway to Naoshima and is the stop-off point for the ferries which link Takamatsu Bay in Kagawa Prefecture with Uno Bay in Okayama.

In “The Man with the Red Tattoo”, Bond flies into Okayama airport from Tokyo and then travels by car to Uno where he boards the ferry for Miyanoura.

The Naoshima town hall was designed by the architect Kazuhiro Ishii to incorporate motifs echoing the famous Azuchi-Momoyama period Hiunkaku tower, and at the same time blend in smoothly with the houses in the surrounding area.

When Bond arrives on Naoshima, he is met by Tiger Tanaka and they travel up to Benesse House in a Toyota Celsior lent to them by the owner. As they drive up to the Naoshima cultural village, Bond is struck by the unique design of the town hall.

The Art House Project is a modern art collection in the Honmura area of Naoshima and consists ofa collection of traditional Japanese houses which have been restored and made into works of art. The 4 house-projects are: “Kadoya”, “Minamidera”, “Kinza” and “Go’? jinja”

In the car on the way up from Miyanoura, Tiger Tanaka explains about the concept of the space of a whole house existing as a piece of art.

The fore-runner of the current Mitsubishi materials plant was originally set-up in 1917 as the main refinery. As well as producing copper, gold, silver and sulphur, the refinery and the companies and facilities which support it constitute the main industry on the island.

Tiger Tanaka explains this to Bond during their drive up to Benesse House.

The Benesse Island complex stretches along the Southern side of Naoshima and it is built around the coastal Sea-side Park and the Benesse House hotel/art gallery complex situated on a small plateau. The new ‘Chich? Bijutsu-kan” (Underground Museum), which amongst other things houses works by Monet, was completed in July 2004.

Benesse House

Benesse House itself is a hotel/art gallery complex which was designed by the architect Ando Tadao. It contains 7 galleries of varying sizes and a 16-room hotel.

It is also the backdrop to the climax of “The Man with the Red Tattoo”, the G8 summit. Yoshida Goro (The eponymous ‘Man with the Red Tattoo’) sends his henchman, Kappa, to sneak in and assassinate the representatives attending the summit. In the middle of the night Kappa conceals himself in one of the sculptures and sets up a container with killer mosquitoes inside it. Just when it seems that his plan to throw the G8 summit into confusion is going smoothly, Bond appears, and after a fight he defeats and captures the assassin.