Vol.000 – Coffee Break with Mende and Me

Date of Issue: July 11, 2023・Activity 1/ City Night Survey: Kobe（2023.01.18-01.20）・Activity 2/ Night Walk Vol.71: Yaesu and Otsu（2023.03.24 & 04.21）・Activity 3/Round Table Discussion Vol.69: Review on Yaesu and Otsu（2023.04.28） City Night Survey: Kobe2023.01.18-01.20　Yumi Honda ＋ Misuzu Nakamura　 Kobe is famous for the night view from Mt. Rokko as the “10 Million Dollar Nightscape” and for its waterside nightscape as a port city. Nightscape guidelines have been established in 2012, and efforts are being actively made to improve the lighting in the city. We walked around the city, which continues to be updated, and explored the components of a nightscape that is uniquely Kobe. ■“Instagrammable” NightscapePort Tower, Maritime Museum, Oriental Hotel, Hotel Okura, Ferris wheel, sightseeing boats, and the “BE KOBE” monument…. When people think of the city of Kobe, they probably think of Meriken Park. Meriken Park is the face of Kobe, and even at night many people were visiting the park to take commemorative photos. Many of the park’s symbolic monuments were lit up and color lighting was used extensively, but the colors and color schemes were mainly neutral, not primary colors, so it was nice to enjoy the colorful light without getting an overpowering impression. To complement the color lighting, the ground lights of the pole lights, handrail lights, and bollard lights were uniformly lit with light bulbs, creating a subdued brightness. Both decorative lighting and functional lighting emitted little excessive glare, allowing us to concentrate on the…

Date of Issue: April 30,2025・Activity 1/ City Night Survey: Yokkaichi（2024.11.21-11.22）・Activity 2/ City Night Survey: Kitakyushu（2025.01.08-01.11） City Night Survey: Yokkaichi, Mie2024.11.21-11.22 Shunichi Ikeda + Yuta Shibata Yokkaichi has developed as an industrial city. The striking contrast between its dazzling factory nightscape and the increasingly organized city center stands out. We conducted a survey of the urban lighting where industry and daily life coexist. ■About Yokkaichi Yokkaichi has a long history, having developed as a port town facing Ise Bay. During the Edo period, it prospered as a post station along the Tokaido route. The city’s name originates from the markets that were held on days ending in “4.”After World War II, Yokkaichi grew as an industrial city with the construction of a petrochemical complex during Japan’s period of rapid economic growth. However, air pollutants emitted from the complex caused a serious pollution-related illness known as Yokkaichi asthma.Today, the city has regained a comfortable living environment. Residential areas, shopping streets, and everyday life now extend right alongside the industrial zones. ■3D Factory Nightscape Yokkaichi, with its history of industrial development, began drawing attention during the early 2000s factory nightscape boom. The expansive factory nightscape of the Yokkaichi petrochemical complex, which stretches about 10 kilometers north to south, is counted among Japan’s five greatest factory nightscapes. What makes it especially unique is that the nightscape can be viewed from the sky, land, and sea—earning it the nickname “3D Nightscape.” Particularly photogenic views of the…

Published：05. Dec 2015 ・Activity 1／Lighting Survey：Hokuriku-Noto Peninsula（01-04/09/2015） ・Activity 2／Night Walk:Osaka（03/10/2015） Lighting Survey in Hokuriku-Noto Peninsula 01-04 Sep. 2015 Sachiko Segawa + Yumi Honda　　 It was the first time for Lighting Detectives to survey Hokuriku area, Japan sea side –It became faster and easier to travel there since Hokuriku Shinkansen line stretched its service to Kanazawa. What kind of light symbolizes Kanazawa city, the heart of Hokuriku? What light is essential in the rural life? Those were what we tried to find out. ■Light to “Utilize” in nature Went to the edge of Noto Peninsula where is apart from railroad, we returned to city of Kanazawa and did survey there. Landed on Komatsu Airport, Ishikawa, in the rain. The reason we took the flight, but not a bullet train, was to visit a farm near the airport. Luckily our flight managed to arrive… as we heard earlier flight had to return to Tokyo due to the stormy weather. 20km drive on the messy road after the stormy rain brought us to the first destination: the pear farm. There were totally dark without street lightings around the farm, and the luxmeter was not able to detect any light. Walking down the private walkway, the pear farm appeared suddenly. Thousands of yellow fluorescent lights were juxtaposed over the farm, and it created a misty scenery after the rain. It also looked futuristic in a way, like night view at factory zone. This farm…

Date of Issue: August 6, 2025 ・Activity 1 / Light-up Ninja in Guangzhou（2025.06.11-06.12） Light-up Ninja in Guangzhou First Light-up Ninja in China!2025.06.11-06.12 Huangyi Lin Lighting Detectives debuted Light-up Ninja in China (June 2025, Guangzhou). Students created temporary night art with communities, combating light villains through sustainable urban darkness and cultural storytelling. From June 11 to 12, 2025, the “Light up Ninja” flash mob popped up in Nanting Village, Guangzhou University Town—lighting up the night for a moment, then quietly withdrawing. This was the first-ever ‘Light up Ninja’ event in China. We co-organized it with the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts, whose faculty members Prof. Lin Hong, Yang Yiding, and Lu Haifeng were excited to join. The event also received support from the Guangzhou Lighting Society and sponsorship, including technical expertise, from CDN Lighting. The main purpose of the event was not to light up the monumental kind, often found extravagantly lighting up towers, bridges, or castles. Instead, it involved simple experiments to find appeal in the typical, by illuminating scenes buried in daily life. We wanted students to learn not just about adding light, but also about eliminating unnecessary or unpleasant light to create beauty and comfort in the nightscape closest to us. ■ DAY 1: June 11Around 30 students, along with LPA and CDN staff and professors, gathered at GAFA’s Art and Light Environment Lab for the opening ceremony. Prof. Lin Hong gave a talk on “Nightscape Lighting for…

Written by Kaoru Mende It has been 31 years since the start of the Lighting Detectives in August 1990.   We have also been connected to members around the world since the announcement of the Transnational Lighting Detectives 21 years ago.  It seems like just yesterday, but also such a long time ago.  It wasn’t our initial intention to grow membership, but the number of membership cards issued has reached 1400 with 250 members from overseas.  With this many members it is hard to remember everyone’s face, so I thought we needed something to create a sense of togetherness. On the Lighting Detectives website, there are two columns I contribute to regularly, “Mende`s Lighting Detective Note” and “Coffee Break.”   The Mende’s Detective Note is a collection of short essays about experiences with light and shadow from my point of view.   As I reread some of these essays, good and bad writing is very obvious and I find it very interesting.  Every so often, the point blank feelings and remarks in these essays are so very me.  On the other hand, “Coffee Break” is written as a casual interaction over lunch between a staff member and I, the principal of the lighting design office, LPA.   With a total of three offices in Tokyo, Singapore, and Hong Kong, staff has grown to about 60 members.  Each individual is, of course, unique and many LPA staff members are very assertive and passionate.  I really…