Art and design lure tourists to Naoshima

I had just emerged from the gloom of a tree-lined approach, so the white stones that paved the courtyard seemed impossibly bright. Then, my eyes caught something unexpected: a flight of chunky glass steps, a very modern touch on a renovated shrine.

Encountering surprising and beautiful juxtapositions defined my visit to Japan's Naoshima, a small island that Pritzker Prize-winning architect Tadao Ando has helped transform into a destination for lovers of contemporary art and design.

My trip to Naoshima was something of an Ando pilgrimage. I'd admired the work of the Japanese-born, internationally known Ando at the Art Institute of Chicago, where he created a powerfully contemplative gallery for Japanese screens using simple pillars and lines of light and shadow. My daughter came up with the phrase "art-itecture" during our visit to Naoshima because we focused so much of our attention on Ando's buildings, and less on the artworks they house.