The Japanese island that was saved by art

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Excerpt from bbc.com

Once polluted and suffering from depopulation, Naoshima has become Japan’s hottest contemporary art enclave – and there are signs that life there may be finally rebounding.

Shinichi Kobayashi has idyllic memories of growing up on Naoshima, one of the nearly 3,000 islands scattered across Japan’s Seto Inland Sea.

“We would go clam digging,” said the 75-year-old, who became the island’s mayor in 2018. “During the summer, I would spend entire days swimming in the sea, catching turban shells and fish, getting deeply tanned.”

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