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08 January, 2011 The collective theme for the Lighting Detectives this year is “gathering.” To start off the New Year, club members gathered to visit the seven shrines of good fortune near Nihonbashi, Tokyo. While the pilgrimage is called “The Seven Shrines of Good Fortune,” there are actually Eight as the God of Fishermen, good fortune, commerce, and honest labor, Ebisu, is enshrined in two of the shrines along the tour. The group gathered just before dusk at Suitengu Shrine. From there we visited Matsushima Shrine, Suehiro Shrine, Kasama-inari Shrine, Suginomori Shrine, Takarata Ebisu Shrine, Koami Shrine, and Ochanoki Shrine. With map in hand, the detectives set off to discover what kind of lighting environments each shrine portrayed. The back streets along the way were dim and we had to stop under the fluorescent street lamps every so often to check our progress. Seven Gods of Good Fortune Walking Tour of Nihonbashi Suitengu Matsushima Shrine Suehiro Shrine Kasama-inari Shrine Suginomori Shrine Takarata Ebisu Shrine Koami Shrine Ochanoki Shrine The Seven Gods of Good Fortune City Walk Route Three Lighting Detectives Select the Most Impressive Shrines on the Tour Lanterns hung along the streets near Suitengu Shrine The soft lantern light along the main street is very striking, but all over lighting elements are not to the human-scale, but for traffic safety. Street lights, window light from bars and small eateries, and moonlight guided our way. 1. Detective Fujimoto: Koami Shrine…

World Lighting Journey Chief Interview 2020.04.23　　Yuichi Anzai ―During the year 2020, we posted lightscapes from various places around the world. Among these posts, the most viewed images were the facade lighting of the Museu do Amanhã in Rio De Janeiro, street lighting along London’s Regent Street, and light on the horizon of Morocco`s the Sahara Desert. Mr. Mende, what do you think about these results? the Museu do Amanhã in Rio De Janeiro London’s Regent Street the Sahara Desert Mende：Last year, I requested posts of not just pretty lightscapes, but also problematic lightscapes. Maybe it’s not everyone`s forte to take pictures like this. However, all around us, there are incidences of light happening. Posts of these villains might not attract much attention, but they are necessary to better understand the incidences of light that are happening near us, not just picturesque scenes. These images of people enjoying different colored luminous floor panels didn’t get many responses, but I find it intriguing. ―These images are of a light show in Shenzhen, China, taken during the 2019 Transnational Lighting Detective Forum. Mende：It is interesting to see the people experiencing light waving between joy and despair. There are many images that didn’t register many reactions but are still very interesting. Some closeups that show facial expressions would better reveal the interaction between people and light more so than wide-angle images. Not only macro lightscapes, or nightscapes take at a wide-angle, but also micro…

Go Out into the Night City and Search for Lighting Heroes and Villains!2018/07/26　　Noriko Higashi + Leon Hitsu + Hikaru Kimura + Yuri Araki + Shosaku Takahashi + Aiko Kanda It was a lively workshop with a total of 49 participants A Look at the Orientation We recently held a Lighting Detectives Jr. workshop for the first time in a while in Tokyo’s record-breaking summer heat. 24 energetic children and their guardians searched for lighting heroes and villains around Omotesando and Cat Street. The LPA conference room was filled with children in late July, just as summer vacation began. The Night Walk Survey workshop was held for the first time in three years, and 24 children, ranging from first graders to ninth graders, gathered, even though the capacity was only 15. The staff discussed how to get children, who don’t usually think about lighting, interested and what lessons they should take away. The workshop targeted the following goals: ■OrientationFirst, chief Mende explained the basics of lighting. He offered a simple breakdown of the history of lighting, starting with fire, the impact of different color temperatures on people, and the differences in lighting placement between homes in Japan and abroad. Following that, he introduced the participants to the elements that make up a city’s lighting and explained what constitutes a lighting hero and villain before the group set off for the walk. Children sharing their opinions during the Night Walk Survey Measurement…

2025.1.16 Noriko Higashi In past years, we held a joint year-end activity report meeting with the Lighting Detectives’ corporate sponsors and members. However, this year we decided to hold separate gatherings. The aim was to create a more relaxed space where we could take our time to hear each member’s hopes and ideas for the Lighting Detectives’ activities in 2025—but with so much to discuss, the two-hour session flew by in an instant. During the Busan presentation, member Kubota shared vivid impressions of the bustling local markets and the evolving Gamcheon Culture Village, where the shift to LED lighting is putting the area’s photogenic charm at risk. He also described two contrasting beach areas: Haeundae Beach, brightly illuminated all the way to the shoreline, and Gwangalli Beach, which—though lacking direct beach lighting—is still brightly lit thanks to surrounding signage and ambient light from the nearby entertainment district. During the review of the Kagurazaka fieldwork, which was conducted in two groups, reports were given by Lighting Detectives members Kotani and Tawara, who served as group leaders. Kotani, leader of Group 1, titled their route the “Kagurazaka Alley Immersion Course”, focusing their walk primarily on the backstreets. According to her report, as participants made their way from Iidabashi toward Kagurazaka, they first encountered an overwhelming number of brightly lit signage at the entrance, which felt inconsistent with the traditional image of Kagurazaka. However, once they entered the narrow alleys, they found that…

Ever since the new library was finished I have wanted to go and see it, so 15 members of the Lighting Detectives gathered around dusk for the Tama Art U. campus version of a city walking tour. It is well known that the architect is Toyo Ito and furniture designed by Kazuko Fujie, but for the past 10 years Professor Satoshi Tabuchi has been coordinating the architectural and developmental planning of Tama Art U. Campus. In spite of his busy schedule Prof. Tabuchi was able to give the Lighting Detectives a private campus tour. The library was built on a hill and the first floor slopes with this natural incline. It was a little bit peculiar and although, I have experienced a non-horizontal park built by Arakawa + Gin before, a sloping floor aroused a slight strangeness. I was taken back to the feeling of running around in the sandlot as a child or walking uphill on a faraway. However, while the floor is sloping, all of the tabletops are level. As you sit and concentrate on your work or books you just forget about the sloping floor underfoot. Since we are the Lighting Detectives, out came the luminance meters to calculate floor, table top, vertical, ect. lux levels. I forgot the exact numbers, but tabletop luminance levels were right around 400 lux. This is a good number for super ambient up lighting to the ceiling. Floor lamps with oversized…