I Love Yu

What to know

I Love Yu is both a contemporary art installation and a public bathhouse (sento), offering visitors the chance to bathe inside a work of art. Designed by Shinro Otake, the facility reflects his scrapbook-like style, incorporating recycled objects collected from across Japan. Otake also created the Haisha art house, part of Naoshima's Art House Project.

Bathing here is a truly unique experience. The baths are finished mostly in plain white tiles, surrounding a collage of erotica on the floor. As you soak in the hot water, you can admire the brightly painted glass ceiling, large tile murals of female abalone divers (ama) on the walls, and an elephant statue at the center of the room.

Art is everywhere in the bathhouse—paintings, posters, video displays, painted ceramics, and collages adorn the changing rooms, toilets, entryway, and the entire exterior. The bath sells I Love Yu merchandise and toiletries like towels, shampoo, and body soap. Like admission tickets, these are purchased from a ticket machine near the entrance.

I Love Yu is just a few steps from the ferry terminal at Miyanoura Port.