Salon 2005
5 April
Lighting Detective Headquarters, Shibuya
City Walking Tour, Fukuoka and Sapporo City Lighting Survey Reports, Alaska Aurora Borealis Report, plus more…
A large crowd of club members, from students to lighting professionals, gathered this evening to listen to and contribute to reports from the city walking tour team and their trek around the Emperor's, reports on city lighting surveys in Sapporo and Fukuoka, exciting photograph and stories from a trip to see Alaskan Northern Lights, and a colorful display from lighting manufacture, Maxray.
■ Emperor's Palace Walking Tour
The first report came from the city walking tour team and their 5km trek on March 25 around the Emperor's Palace in the middle of Tokyo. The members gathered for the tour were further broken into two teams and the route was surveyed in two parts. Blue team members, Ken Okamoto and Yuki Ogawa, both presented digital pictures for the audience to see for themselves the contrast in lightness and darkness along the perimeter of the palace grounds from Yasukuni Shrine to Tokyo Station via Takebashi Bridge. Yellow team members, Aki Hayakawa and Rachel Nakayama, contributed their impressions of the tour on the opposite side of the palace with pictures including the moonlit moat and illumination of the Japan Budokan, Diet Building, and Tokyo Tower.
■ Alaskan Aurora Borealis
Club members Natsuko Ueda and Teruhiko Kubota stole the show with breathtaking slides of the Alaskan Northern Lights. The whispery green lights danced across the projection screen and into the hearts of the gathered club members as they relayed their accounts of waiting in the cold and dark of the night to glimpse nature's spectacle.
■Maxray Mood Light
Lighting manufacture, Maxray, introduced to the club a new lineup of lighting products, Mood Light Objects. These playful LED based products wowed the crowded as they showcased their rainbow of colors across the room. Objects included, a wine chiller, bowl, and candles, great for any party setting!
■ City Lighting Survey
In December of last year, club member Akiko Okunaka ventured to Sapporo in Northern Japan to survey the city lighting layout and Christmas illumination event. Pictures taken from the Television Tower overlooking the city showed the grid formation of the city streets, rare in Japan. The snow-covered rooftops reflecting light from the evening sky, also bathed the city in a beautiful blue-ish tint. The Christmas illumination filled downtown Odori Park with a festive spirit.
Next, Aki Hayakawa reported on her travels to the city of Fukuoka at the opposite end of Japan. Hayakawa concentrated her survey in three areas within the city, the riverside, underground shopping area, and the nightly row of street vendors. The pictures presented different lighting aspects of these various places, from low-tech booth lighting to the refined shadows and light of the underground shopping area.
28 July
Lighting Detective Headquarters, Shibuya
At this session there were only a few topics on the table, which gave members an opportunity to discuss, in-depth, new products and ideas
from the New York City Lighting Fair, the direction of and trends in Ginza lighting, and the festive events that unfolded at the most
recent Candle Night Performance. This session was a welcomed breather from previous salons of fast-paced slideshows and long agendas.
Members could freely exchange ideas and talk about lighting culture without a pressing schedule.
■Reported News, Surveys, and Events
・NYC Light Fair and Survey.....Akiko Okunaka
・City Walk: Ginza.....Ueda Natsuko
・Candle Night Summer Solstice 2005.....Saiko Tanuma
17 November
Endo Lighting Corp. Showroom, Aoyama
This month the Lighting Detectives rallied at the new Endo Lighting Corp. Aoyama Showroom for a bigger and better version of the regular
salon session. The showroom accommodated 60+ detectives, a 3-screen slide show, and energy and enthusiasm to keep the discussion going
for more than 2 hours. It was a more “formal” setting than our usual meetings and guests needing coaxing to sit in the front row, but
all eyes and hears were on the presenters and their slides once the lights were dimmed. The agenda for the night gave the detectives a
rare opportunity to compare and contrast the Japan bay cities of Nagasaki and Yokohama, watch footage from the Bali Kite Festival, and
view in detail two monsters in the architecture world: Louis Kahn’s Kimbell Art Museum and Tadao Ando’s Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth.
To top the night off, the detectives were able to seek a peak at Endo Lighting products on display. The detective’s did not go home
unsatisfied tonight!
■Reported News, Surveys, and Events
・Nagasaki City Lighting Survey.....Rachel Nakayama
・Yokohama City Lighting Survey.....Tsutomu Nagatsu
・Dallas / Fort Worth Lighting Survey.....Yosuke Hiraiwa
・City Walk: Akihabara.....Momoko Muraoka
・Light Up Ninja@Bali.....Ken Okamoto & Natsuko Ueda
・2005 Transtantional TN Form in NYC.....Saiko Tanuma
City Walk 2005
25 March 2005
Imperial Palace: The Last Refuge of Darkness in Tokyo
With a full moon to guide us, 20 lighting detectives gathered at Kudashita Station on this early spring evening to walk around the Emperor’s Palace in search of any darkness left behind in the glaring commercialism of Tokyo. We all first trooped to Yasukuni Shrine to view the illumination of the big orange gate and from there broke off into 2 teams moving in opposite directions around the palace. The blue team worked their way towards Ohte-Machi, while the yellow team moved steadily towards the Kasumigaseki District, with the final destination the Wadakura Fountain in front of Tokyo Station.
The first stop for the blue team, led by Chief of the Lighting Detectives, Kaoru Mende, was Chidorigafuchi, a famous cherry blossom viewing spot in Tokyo. But, unfortunately we were early in the season and only the portable light fixtures for night viewing were on display. As the team made their way towards Tokyo Station, the buildings along the perimeter seemed to have toned-down their lighting effects, as not to intrude on the privacy of their neighbors across the black moat. But on the homerun stretch towards Tokyo station, the recently redeveloped Marunouchi District stood in great contrast to the dark palace. One could stand in the same spot and view Marunouchi as one would think of Tokyo, with tall buildings and fantastic lights, and then turn on the same spot and face the dark moat, trees, and embankment of the palace that swallowed up any surrounding lights.
Throughout the walk, the yellow team, led by Detective Inaba, had one advantage from this side of the palace: a view of the full moon over the palace grounds. The moon’s reflection and long shadows cast in the moat was an impressive-enough site to find in the middle of Tokyo, but with the Japan Budokan sitting quietly up on the hill and soft light filtering out from the doors, was all the view needed to be complete. Besides the moonlight, we also had the lights of Kasumigaseki and Marunouchi to guide us towards our goal. While these two districts are not as bright as some other areas of Tokyo, in contrast to the dark palace grounds it was a beautiful backdrop, as the grounds stood in silhouette against the Maruouchi lights.
After meeting up again in front of Wadakura Park Fountain, we enjoyed the fountain show and then moved on to discussing the walk over Vietnamese food. Both teams definitely agreed that we had discovered the “black hole” of Tokyo.
12 July 2005
Ginza: A New Trend in Lighting
The best part about the Ginza Distirct is that it is mirror of present times and its trends. And just by looking at boutiques such as,
Chanel, Louise Vitton, or Christian Dior, one can see that a catchy facade is the latest architectural trend. But is that all Ginza
lighting is about? The Lighting Detectives wanted to find out more about the lighting environment of this trendy, but illusive
commercial district in the middle of Tokyo. We split up in to 4 groups to cover five of the main streets: Ginza Avenue, Harumi
Avenue, Namiki Street, Miyuki Street, and Hanatsubaki Street.
■Ginza Avenue
While in Ginza, you can’t miss Ginza Avenue, one of the main streets of Ginza with an ever-changing face and home to fashion
boutiques such as Chanel, Cartier, Louis Vuitton, and Opaque. The design of each boutique is sensitive to the finicky Japanese
market, while trying to create a store facade that screams its own identity in this competitive era. This street is one of the
busiest in the district, as shoppers are attracted to the eye-catching facade designs and on Sunday, when it is turned into a
pedestrian mall. Compared to other streets in the district, we noticed that the pavement is a lighter gray and the asphalt used
is of a lighter tone. Roadway reflection properties are lower along this street even though sufficient luminous levels have been
secured.
■Harumi Avenue
Harumi Avenue, another main thoroughfare in Ginza, is lined with boutiques such as Christrian Dior and Hermes; both with facades
to rival shops on Ginza Avenue, but the main eye-opener along this strip are the neon billboards and signage. Advertising for
large corporations occupies the top of many buildings along this wide street, forcing your field of vision upward. The lighting
for these neon billboards is not stationary, either. A rainbow of colors are constantly changing and blinking to attract attention
and were clearly visible even from the air on the lighting detective helicopter tour Dec. 8th, 2004.
■Namiki Street
Lighting along Namiki Street is distinctly divided as it intersects with Harumi Avenue. At this intersect the streetlamp design
changes, but the light source, 250W Metal Halide lamp, stays the same.
■Miyuki Street
Historically, Miyuki Street was the route of choice for the Emperor when he visited nearby Hamarikyu Garden, where the name “miyuki”
is derived from. The streetlamps are fixed with a golden Phoenix on top, an accent characteristic of only this narrow street.
■Hanatsubaki Street
The Shidedo Building stands at the intersection of Ginza Avenue and Hanatsubaki Street, one of the main points of interest along Hanatsubaki
Street. The lightly polished facade reflects the streetscape on its plane along with the glamour of the Ginza District.
Streetlamps and department stores changed the streetscape of Ginza long ago, but today it is boutique architecture that is reshaping
the Ginza of yesterday. Lighting history in Japan can be traced over the years according the changes in the Ginza District. Gas lamps
started during the Meiji Era, leading to arc lighting, and the neon lights of the Showa Period gave way to mercury lamps, but boutique
facade lighting is without a doubt the main factor in today’s Ginza, overpowering the classic gas streetlamps that seem to get dimmer
and dimmer.
9 November 2005
Akihabara: Change and Progress in Electric Town
Akihabara, home of the latest and greatest in electronic technology, is not just a place for the “otaku” any more. While the
“super-nerds” scour the electronic stores for the newest gadget, urban redevelopment is re-shaping this area, trying to combine
the old Akihabara with a fashionable new version. The Lighting Detectives setout this time to discover the possible direction of
Akihabara`s future.
■Akihabara Redevelopment
The detectives gathered at the entrance to the infamous Electric Town to start off on their Akihabara Adventure. Redevelopment
to make Akihabara a worldwide center for the IT community is part of the concept behind Akihabara Crossroads, a new development
officially awaiting its grand opening in the spring of 2006. However, one of two high-rise structures in this redevelopment,
Akihabara Daibiru Building, a combination office, IT academic research, and convention center, opened its doors in the spring of 2005.
From the inside wall washers gently illuminate the Daibiru Building facade and blue LED accent lighting, embedded in the entrance
pavement, creates a lighting environment that is a far cry from the typical Akihabara experience up until now. Along with this
new lighting environment, the opening of the Tsukuba Express and a temporary museum D-Akihabara, we caught a faint glimpse of the
new Akihabara.
The Yamanote Train Line platform is almost level with the second floor of the Daibiru Building, just in front of the train
station. As the trains pass in and out of the station, the huge electronics store, Yodobashi Camera, can be seen in the distance.
As the only dominate building around, the black backdrop of the night sky against the congested platform creates a dramatic urban
scene, one of the more fantastic discoveries of the night.
■Junk Markets
From the Daibiru Building, the detectives split into three groups and set off into the maze of little electronic shops in
search of the rare and weird lighting products that turn up in this quirky little town. It is possible to uncover just about
anything in this goldmine if you are will to search through the troves of shops, giving new meaning to the saying “One man’s
junk is another man’s treasure.”
■The World`s Greatest Electric Town
After treasure hunting in the junk markets, the three groups made their way to the main strip of Akihabara`s electric Town.
Each group was responsible for photographing a section of the street and the photos were later patched together to create one,
continuous elevation of the street. From this elevation scroll we concluded that the most prominent feature of this street is the
amount of flashy, luminous advertising. Each advertisement is the individual taste and style of that store and not subject to any
form of conformity from the next shop. The power of the individual is the predominate lighting culture of Akihabara.
There are as many variations on lighting methods, as there are stores along this street. Up and down lighting along the tall,
skinny facades; Neon signage on building tops; Lighting concentrated in the lower section of buildings; Infinite tubes of
fluorescent lighting around store entrances; plus many other techniques are all part of the glue that “unifies” this streetscape.
Nevertheless, ground floors as bright as daylight that seem to naturally attract customers inward, is one commonality for all
shops along this street.
The contrast in Electric Town chaotic lighting and the new Akihabara Crossroad’s more calming approach is clearly apparent,
but the effect on the streetscape and super-nerds and who have run the show in Akihabara up until now is still fuzzy. How
will the town change and react to accommodate the new kids on the block, IT center, high-rise structures, trendy condominiums,
and such, gradually invading the area?
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