Japan’s ancient Setouchi region, which includes the Seto Inland Sea’s islands and coastal areas, will host the Setouchi Trienniale 2019, a major art fair held in three seasonal installments; sites in 2019 include the less-frequented islands of Teshima and Honjima, where you can better experience the balance of nature and art. One hour south of the “art islands” via ferry or the Shinkansen bullet train, the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, one of Japan’s most visited sites, reopens in spring 2019 after an eight-year, $51 million refurbishment. Setouchi is also looking to draw a fresh crop of cyclists, with new trails winding through local citrus and olive groves and a dedicated Shimanami bike ferry that opened in October 2018 connecting Japan’s main island of Honshu to the region’s lesser-visited island of Shikoku. For those seeking more sybaritic forms of transport, late 2017 saw the maiden voyage of Guntu — more a minimalist floating ryokan than a cruise ship — complete with 19 walnut-clad rooms and open-air cypress soaking baths. In 2019, Setouchi Sea Planes, Japan’s only sea plane company, will expand its scenic flights to several smaller islands and towns via a fleet of Kodiak 100s. And a Japanese start-up company called Ale launched — literally — the Shooting Star Challenge, a microsatellite that will create the world’s first artificial meteor shower, aiming to fill Setouchi’s skies in spring 2020, a taste of the high-tech one-upmanship to come in Tokyo’s 2020 Olympics. ADAM H. GRAHAM
