Teshima Yokoo House Night Tour 2026: Last Boats Off Teshima

The night tour at Teshima Yokoo House ends at 18:00. By then the last high-speed boat from Ieura to Takamatsu has gone (it leaves at 17:20), and so has the last boat to Naoshima (16:17).

You can still get off the island the same evening. Two boats leave Ieura Port after the tour: the 18:40 ferry to Uno, on the Okayama side, and the 19:40 passenger boat to Tonosho on Shodoshima. From Uno, trains still run to Okayama and Takamatsu, and boats to Naoshima, that night.

Benesse Art Site Naoshima runs “A Night Tour in Teshima Yokoo House” on 17 weekend evenings from 1 November to 27 December 2026. Its notice gives the dates, the fee and the meeting time. It does not say how to leave the island afterwards. This guide joins the tour to the ferry timetables. I haven’t taken the night tour myself; every time and price below comes from the museum’s and the boat operators’ own pages.

When the night tour runs, and what it costs

The tour runs from 17:00 to 18:00 on Saturdays and Sundays only, from Sunday 1 November to Sunday 27 December 2026, according to Benesse’s announcement. Reception opens at 16:45 at the entrance of Teshima Yokoo House, and that is where you meet.

That is 17 evenings in all, nine in November and eight in December.

• Fee, booked online: ¥1,100 (¥600 admission plus a ¥500 programme fee)
• Fee, paid on the day: ¥1,200 (¥700 admission plus the ¥500 programme fee)
• Aged 15 and under: free, admission and programme fee included
• Group size: 30 people per evening
• Guide: museum staff, in Japanese only. Visitors from abroad can borrow an English booklet

The Teshima Yokoo House page describes what changes after dark. The house is a converted old home in the Ieura district by the artist Tadanori Yokoo and the architect Yuko Nagayama. It uses tinted and red glass, and after dark the garden is lit and the paintings reflect in the glass.

How to book, and two ticket rules worth knowing

Book through Benesse’s online ticket page, the same page that sells ordinary Yokoo House tickets. Cancellation is free until 16:30 on the day of the tour.

Two notes in the announcement change how you plan the day:

• If you already have an admission ticket for that day, you pay only the ¥500 programme fee, but you still need to reserve a place on the same booking page. You can see the house in daylight and come back at 16:45 for the night tour. With 30 places per evening, a daytime ticket alone does not hold you a spot.
• If you did not visit during regular opening hours that day, you can re-enter the following day. Daytime hours from 1 October to the end of February are 10:00–16:00, with last entry at 15:30.

The second rule matters if you arrive on Teshima in the afternoon, see the house only at night, and stay over on Teshima or Shodoshima.

The boats that leave Teshima after 18:00

Only two boats leave Ieura Port after the tour ends, and neither goes to Takamatsu or Naoshima.

Benesse’s Teshima map puts Teshima Yokoo House a 5-minute walk from the Ieura-ko stop at the port, and the 18:40 leaves 40 minutes after the tour ends.

Both are run by Shodoshima Teshima Ferry, whose English timetable has been in force since 1 December 2025. One-way adult fares are ¥780 from Ieura to Uno and ¥780 from Ieura to Tonosho (¥390 for children). The 19:40 is the last boat of the day from Ieura and does not call at Karato, the island’s other port.

At Ieura the ferry and the passenger boat board in different places: Shodoshima Teshima Ferry’s access page lists a ticket office, a ferry pier and a passenger-boat pier, each with its own map. The 18:40 leaves from the ferry pier and the 19:40 from the passenger-boat pier, so find yours on the map before the tour starts.

• To Takamatsu: the last Teshima Ferry high-speed boat leaves Ieura at 17:20 and reaches Takamatsu at 17:55, in both the autumn and the winter timetable.
• To Naoshima: the last Shikoku Kisen boat from Ieura to Miyanoura leaves at 16:17.

Getting back to Okayama, Naoshima or Takamatsu the same night

Take the 18:40 ferry to Uno and change there.

Uno Station is a walk of about 3 minutes from Uno Port, according to Benesse’s access page. The train times come from JR West’s timetables for Uno to Okayama and Chayamachi to Takamatsu. I checked the Uno trains on nine of the 17 tour dates, including the first and the last, and the Marine Liner on four, and the times were the same on every date.

1. To Okayama.The JR train at 19:13 leaves Uno before the ferry arrives at 19:19. The next one leaves at 20:32 and reaches Okayama at 21:26.
2. To Naoshima.The Shikoku Kisen ferry leaves Uno at 20:25 and reaches Miyanoura at 20:45 (¥370 for adults). A later passenger boat leaves at 22:30 and arrives at 22:45. At Uno and at Miyanoura, ferries and passenger boats use different piers.
3. To Takamatsu.Take the 20:32 train from Uno and change at Chayamachi (arrives 20:56) to a Marine Liner. The 20:59 reaches Takamatsu at 21:39, but it leaves three minutes after you arrive. The next Marine Liner leaves Chayamachi at 21:29 and arrives at 22:08.

The boats back to Naoshima cost ¥1,150 for an adult (¥780 plus ¥370). If you are staying in Takamatsu, you arrive at 22:08, just over four hours after the tour ends.

Getting to Teshima in time for 16:45

To be at the entrance by 16:45, the last boats you can take are the 15:50 passenger boat from Tonosho on Shodoshima, which reaches Ieura at 16:25, the 15:47 boat from Inujima, which arrives at 16:12, the 15:25 ferry from Uno, which arrives at 16:05, and the 14:50 boat from Miyanoura on Naoshima, which arrives at 15:12. From Takamatsu, the last Teshima Ferry boat that makes it is the 10:45 on weekends until 30 November and the 9:07 from 1 December; the 16:25 Teshima Ferry boat reaches Ieura at 17:00, after reception opens.

• From Shodoshima: the Shodoshima Teshima Ferry passenger boat leaves Tonosho at 15:50 and reaches Ieura at 16:25, calling at Karato on the way (¥780 for adults). It is the same company’s 19:40 boat that takes you back to Tonosho after the tour.
• From Uno (Okayama side): the 15:25 ferry reaches Ieura at 16:05. The next boat, the 17:30 passenger boat, arrives at 17:55, too late. An earlier option is the 13:25 passenger boat, arriving at 13:50.
• From Naoshima: the Shikoku Kisen boat leaves Miyanoura at 14:50 and reaches Ieura at 15:12 (¥820 for adults, cash only). It runs on weekends in both November and December, but only on days the Teshima Art Museum is open, so check Benesse’s open-days calendar.
• From Inujima: the same Shikoku Kisen route runs the other way: the boat leaves Inujima at 15:47 and reaches Ieura at 16:12 (¥1,630 for adults, cash only). It calls only at islands whose art museum is open that day.
• From Takamatsu, until 30 November: on Saturdays and Sundays the 10:45 boat via Honmura reaches Ieura at 11:35.
• From Takamatsu, from 1 December: Teshima Ferry’s winter timetable drops the 10:45. On Saturdays and Sundays its last boat that arrives in time is the 9:07, reaching Ieura at 9:57 via Honmura. From 1 December to 19 March, Teshima Ferry boats at Ieura leave from the old pier about 150 m west of the community centre that houses its ticket booth, not the pier in front of the centre used the rest of the year, according to its FAQ.
• From Takamatsu via Naoshima, in either month: the Shikoku Kisen ferry leaves Takamatsu at 12:40 and reaches Miyanoura at 13:30, in time for the 14:50 to Ieura. The next ferry, at 15:35, misses it.

Teshima Ferry takes cash only and does not take reservations. Its boats carry 70 passengers, boarded first come, first served. The Takamatsu–Ieura fare is ¥1,450 for adults.

When the night tour is not worth the trip

Skip it if you are based in Takamatsu and not willing to stay on the islands.

The return via Uno and Chayamachi is possible, but it is long and depends on a single 18:40 ferry.

Skip it too if the guiding is the reason you want to go. The staff guide speaks Japanese only, and the English booklet is what you get instead.

It works best in two cases. One is staying on the Okayama side, where the 18:40 ferry and the 20:32 train get you to Okayama by 21:26. The other is staying overnight on Teshima or Shodoshima. Benesse’s guest house page links to the Teshima Tourism Association’s listings and notes that its own staff do not handle bookings for those places. If you are coming from Tokyo or Osaka, my guide to cheaper ways to cross Japan covers the long leg.

What I could not settle

Quick answers

Do I need to take my shoes off inside Teshima Yokoo House?

In some rooms, yes. The museum asks visitors to wear shoes that are easy to take off and put back on.

Can I take photos during the night tour?

No. The museum’s rules ask visitors not to take photographs or videos, or make sketches, inside Teshima Yokoo House.

Can I bring my suitcase to the tour?

Not into the house. Teshima Yokoo House does not allow large items such as suitcases, umbrellas and tripods inside, and Benesse’s pages do not say whether the Ticket Center holds bags during the night tour. If you are moving between islands that day, plan to arrive for the 16:45 reception without them.

Should I bring a pushchair (stroller) for a small child?

Don’t plan on using it inside. The museum has steps and very narrow passages, so pushchairs are not allowed and have to be left at reception.

Tour dates, fares and timetables checked on 16 October 2026.

— ko, writing from Niigata