26 September 2008 The Lighting Detectives are always up to something unusual and for this city walk we rented a double-decker, open-air bus to cruise the streets of Tokyo. A specially planned route took us from Marunouchi→around the Imperial Palace→past the Diet Building→through the middle of Ginza→across the Rainbow Bridge→around Odaiba→back through Toyosu→across Kachidoki Bridge→up Haruumi Avenue→back to Marunouchi. It was a neck-kinking, eye-popping, wind-in-your-hair tour! Sore Neck after a Magical Tour of Ginza Group photo in Marunouchi before the start of the tour. An air of excitement and anticipation as members boarded the bus for the 2-hour night tour of Tokyo. Driving through the heart of Ginza was the highlight for many on the tour. New and old methods for street and facade lighting were on parade, an excellent opportunity for comparing and contrasting lighting eras. Office tower lighting and residential condominium lighting dominated the scene on the drive back from Odaiba to Marunouchi. While white fluorescent lighting was the predominate color some condominiums glowed a soft orange. Members all had stiff necks after 2-hours of continuous looking up, but nobody seemed to mind. Chatter even died down as the bus started along the route, as members seemed to take this opportunity very seriously. On this bus tour I accomplished something that I am too embarrassed to do any other day; Crank my head back and look up as we drove through the streets! As anybody knows, Tokyo is…

11 July The Lighting Detectives hosted the first of three salons focusing on residential lighting Friday, July 11th at the New Maru Building Ecozzeria. The hall was packed with over 100 guest who listened intently to the speakers who presented; “Residential Lighting: Past, Present, Future ? Rediscovering Residential Lighting from the Past to Modern Day.” by: saiko tanuma During the fiscal year of 2008 ? 2009 the Lighting Detectives will be hosting a series of 3 salons, all focusing on the influences of residential lighting. In discussing the culture of lighting, residential lighting seems like the best and most important starting point, as we delve into and analyze the why`s, what`s, and how`s. Our first salon outlined the history of residential lighting, with an emphasis on the ideal form of lighting from past to present in Japan. Kaoru Mende, and members of the Lighting Detectives, also heard contributions from guest speaker, Kazuya Ura, architect and interior designer. First on the program, a report from a survey of the Yoshihara residence in Kyoto by Lighting Detective members, who relayed their findings about Japanese light and the lighting environment of an old, Japanese-style house. What kind of effects do the daily changes in natural light contribute to the lighting environment? What can be done in the light of a single lantern? These are just some of the thought provoking questions raised and discussed during their presentation. Mr. Ura presented examples of his…

23 April 2008 On this cool, spring evening we took our city walk to the Hachioji Campus of the Tama Art University to investigate the new library, completed in the spring of 2007. Professor Satoshi Tabuchi, who has been coordinating the architecture and general campus planning for the Hachioji Campus, was kind enough to give the lighting detectives a personal tour of the library and campus. by: misa fujii / hiroyuki miyake Library during the Daytime Reading is the focus and concentration of a fixed line of vision over a long period of time and sharp shadowing can disturb this concentration. During the daytime, daylight creates soft shadows and a slightly changing atmosphere through out the library. Natural light penetrates thin, white curtains helps to soften the lighting along the seating near the windows. The silhouette of the Zelkova trees and curtain pattern fall onto the desktop with spots of sunbeams that stream through the tree leaves to create a relaxing reading atmosphere. The indirect fluorescent lighting overhead reflects off the concert ceiling to recreate the impression of a cloudy day. Each space seems very personal, like one would want to curl up by oneself with a book on a rainy day. These two types of light meet in a perfectly, soft gradation of light and shadow to create a very comfortable reading a studying environment. Tray of Light The sloping 1st floor and spiraling staircase to the 2nd floor…

10 December 2007 Winter Blues Winter is a cold and quiet time where people gather indoors, drink hot cocoa or coffee, and maybe reflect on the year before and ahead. But Christmas in the city always gives us something to get out and about and see?Christmas illuminations. The Lighting Detectives gathered in Roppongi to shake off some of those winter blues and experience the new trends in Christmas illuminations. We tackled the big two: Roppongi Hills and Tokyo Midtown. Tokyo Midtown The theme for Tokyo Midtown was “Someone is always Santa Clause for someone else;” a lovely theme, but not very decipherable from the illuminations. A quick overview includes a sparkling rendition of the aurora borealis in the Plaza, a colorful display of stained glass in the Galleria, and a brilliant blue Milky Way in the Garden. In the image of the northern lights a dangly curtain of waves and motion was hung in the plaza. The installation seemed more crystal-like as the lights where mostly white colored. In the Galleria the Kiriko tree of cut stained glass continually changed colors and seemed to gather the most attention. At 8m tall it was quite impressive and visible from the far end of the garden. The ocean of little blue lights that covered most of the grassy area in the garden was actually the Milky Way with swirling stardust and shooting stars, all accompanied by music. Now this might have been…

28 Septmber 2007 Night Gazing in Yokohama …by: natsuko ueda It has been a long time since the Lighting Detectives have been walked Yokohama. This autumn evening 24 members participated in the walk, along with member of the Yokohama City & Urban Design Group. Our first stop on the tour was the Yokohama Marine Tower, not usually open to the public, but with special arrangements our group climbed to the top to view the night scene. The industrial area along the bay had an orangish glow from low-pressure sodium lamps, in contrast with the residential area, which had a whiteish glow from mercury lamps. The lighting surrounding Minato Mirai is a large part of the whole lightscape with signature lightmarks like the Landmark Tower, the colorful lights of the ferris wheel, and flood lights from the baseball stadium. Every direction in our 360-degree view presented a different story for the city. After climbing the tower and jumping aboard a boat to see the best of Yokohama nightscape from the water, our last stop was the newly opened commercial complex, Yokohama Bay Quarter, followed up by the all-important post-walk dinner and discussion. The Lighting Detectives were able to hear straight from Yokohama City & Urban Design Group about invaluable topics concerning the city and how the nightscape can become even more dramatic and dynamic. My impression was not just of a typical waterfront city with dots of light everywhere across the…

01 August 2007 Searching for Heroes and Villains of Light The Roppongi One-Mile. In a one-mile radius (1.6 km), there are over 40 embassies, 9 international schools, and National Art Center, Mori Art Museum, and Suntory Museum of Art completing a triangle of art. In the center of where world cultures and arts clash, Roppongi, Tokyo Midtown is trying to become a base for transmitting Japanese Design to the rest of the world. In this new landmark of Tokyo, Lighting Detective members went in search of Heroes and Villains of Light. See what they found in this new urban environment. Heroes and Villains …by: yuji sato My overall impression is of a typical commercial facility catering to adults with a well-balanced lighting plan. Prime example of a lighting hero is the unified appearance of the Galleria interior. Inside, simple translucent signage with black lettering gives the interior a clean-cut feeling. A single warm-colored fluorescent lamp in the bottom of the sign creates a beautiful gradation. The signs are also mounted at the perfect high, not blocked by people’s heads and all visible with one glance down the corridor. The shopping area has the feeling of a European high fashion street with most shops also using halogen lamps or similar low color temperature lamps to create a posh and unified space. The second lighting hero I`d like to recognize is the small gallery space along the large columns in the atrium….

5 March 2007 This month in cooperation with Yamagiwa Corp., we rented out the Space Studio in the Yamagiwa Livina Showroom in the Akihabara District of Tokyo. It is a big and spacious studio with designer furniture and light fixtures on display. by: yukiko saito Reported News, Surveys, and Events Toyosu City Walk…Ken Okamoto Shinjuku Urban Lighting Survey…Motoyo Ogawa Sendai City Lighting Survey…Daisuke Yano Transnational Tanteidan Forum 2006y…Saiko Tanuma URA Exhibition…Mikine Yamamoto Ginza Streetlight Competition…Saiko Tanuma Toyosu City Walk Lighting Detective Ken Okamoto reported on the walk around the Toyosu area on February 16th. Ken presented a quality analysis on the overall lay of the area, the lighting guidelines of the city, and a critic of what he observed on the walk. During the walk, teams broke up to observe lighting in the following areas: Lalaport shopping area, streets, residential, Shibaura Technical University, office buildings, and the waterfront. All teams joined in a discussion, trading observations, critics, and suggestions. Shinjuku Urban Lighting Survey Lighting Detective member Motoyo Ohgawa reported next on an urban lighting survey of Shinjuku. The team ventured to the Tokyo district on November 17th to survey the facade along Yasukuni Blvd., the continually transforming Shinjuku Station perimeter, and from a perch onto of a skyscraper, a birds-eye-view of the city. The team started early in the morning and worked through the night to the next morning to be able to see the changes in one continuous day….

16 February 2007 As new condominiums keep popping up everywhere, the new area of focus is the Toyosu District. Large-scale commercial facilities and a university campus also complete this “model” for new urban planning. As the cold winds of February blew, we ventured out to see what all the talk was about. by: momoko muraoka Street Lighting As we began walk from Toyosu Station, we made a conscious effort to focus on street lighting, lighting that is experienced everyday, but largely overlooked. The height and design of the lightpoles, distance between, lamp wattage, and other statistics were digested and an idea of the lighting plan for this area was beginning to form. As we walked along, Chief Mende commented on problems such as glare, which caused members to scribble furiously in their notebooks. At 5:15 pm the street lights came on and we could further see that color temperatures were different according to area, which gave us all something to ponder since this is not a normal planning scheme. Condominiums, Offices, & Shibaura Institute of Technology Because of the ongoing redevelopment in the Toyosu area there is quite a bit of open space awaiting construction and gives a clear view of the high-rise offices and condominiums in the area. Many of the buildings under construction only have a minimal amount of lights on at night. All of the extra space and no glaring lights makes of a big wide-open night…

17 October 2006 Reported News, Surveys, and Events Moon Watching in Sankei Garden…..Tsutomo Nagatsu,Yusuke Hatori Hiroshima Urban Lighting Survey….Tsutomo Nagatsu,Yuki Ogawa Taipei, Taiwan Lighting Survey…Mikene Yamamoto Mixed in with the houses of this quiet residential neighborhood is the D`s Labo Aoyama of Daiko Electric Company. The salon was held here in this comfortable half-basement conference room, stylishly decorated like an interior designers showroom. Reported by Tsutomo Nagatsu Moon Watching in Sankei Garden Detectives gathered at Yokohama`s Sankei Garden to view the harvest moon as it cast its light over the garden grounds, Japanese architecture, and pond, creating shadows and deep contrasts. On a clear night, the moon can be seen hanging over the pagoda and reflected in the pond. However, Mother Nature had other plans, and a howling storm chased us all inside. Chief Mende lectured on the history of Japanese light and members viewed a slide show of garden pictures taken on a planning trip earlier in the week. The moon shown bright on the screen, as everyone longed to go outside and greet the real man in the moon. Moon trivia also kept the salon audience entertained. Hiroshima Urban Lighting Survey August 5th through the 7th Hiroshima urban lighting survey included fieldwork at Itsukushima Shrine and viewing of the River of Light, softly lit lantern set afloat in the river, full of prayers for peace and as a symbol of remembrance as part of the Atomic Bomb Peace…

06 October 2006 Now that the heat of the summer is over, the Lighting Detectives converged on Sankeien Garden in Yokohama to see the new harvest moon glow over traditional Japanese architecture and garden grounds and experience moonlight. Even though it turned out to be a rainy day, we were still positive that the clouds would disappear as we left for Yokohama. Survey By: Yusuke Hattori Stormy Sankeien Garden After a train and bus ride, 22 members of the Lighting Detectives arrived at Sankeien at 4:00 in the afternoon. Of the 17 architectural structures strategically placed around the garden, 12 are labeled Important Cultural Assets and were moved to the garden grounds from Kyoto, Kamakura, and other places from around Japan. The garden has a long distinguished history and in celebration of its 100th Anniversary, the garden was open to visitors at night. In the middle of our moon watching, the weather took a turn for the worse and chased everyone, but the Lighting Detectives indoors. Soaking wet from the waist down and most umbrellas blown inside out, the excitement of the storm faded and members grew weary as dusk set in and the moon came up. Plan B As Lighting Detective spirits and body temperatures started to dip, we all gathered indoors at the Kakushokaku, formally the residence of local merchants, The Hara Family, and recently renovated and restored to original state for the public’s use. The detectives ate…

7 July 2006 The Lighting Detectives are always on the move and for this salon the party moved to the ERCO TOTO Showroom in Minato Ward, Tokyo. Reported by Motoyo Ogawa Reported News, Surveys, and Events Hakone City Walk…Momoko Muraoka Nihonbashi & Sumidagawa Survey…Chiaki Tanigawa Light+Building 2006…Ken Okamoto & Mr. Nakamura from ERCO TOTO Lightfair International 2006…Chief Kaoru Mende Singapore Lighting Experiment…Chief Kaoru Mende Candle Night Summer Solstice 2006…Saiko Tanuma The night started with the most recent city walk to the hills of Hakone. The hydrangeas were in full bloom and specially illuminated for viewing from the slow ?moving mountain trolley. The little train chugged along as passengers ‘ooh’ed & ‘ah’ed over the colorful flowers and lighting display. Also close to home, a report from a recent survey of Tokyo’s Nihonbashi and Sumidagawa area and the Candle Night Summer Solstice Omotesando-Eco Avenue　Event. From here the discussion went abroad to Germany, Las Vegas, and Singapore. At the end of April, detective members traveled to Germany to attend the Light+Building　2006 in Frankfurt. For a full two days they were inspired, overwhelmed, and surprised by the simple power and beauty of light at the event. Mr. Nakamura from Erco Toto showed pictures of the Erco booth display and the Erco staple, yellow flowers. In comparison, Kaoru Mende presented and relayed information from a May lighting show in Las Vegas. Lastly, a short presentation on a recent lighting experiment at a busy downtown Singapore…

28 June 2006 Survey by: Momoko Muraoka From Shinjuku to Hakone, we left Shinjuku Station one June evening on the Romance Train bound for the illumination of the beautiful hydrangea of the Hakone hills. From the Romance Train we all cramped into the small two-car train that would take us up the mountain and to the hydrangea. The hydrangeas are in full bloom throughout the month of June and color the hillsides of Hakone in various tones of blues and pinks. To keep the fun going the flowers are illuminated and flower viewing continues into the night from the windows of the small train. As the train starts out the lights are dimmed and the passengers enjoy a relaxing ride up the mountain. After arriving at the main viewing point, all the car lights are turned off and the night air is a glow with the hydrangea illumination. The small train moving through the mountain blackness was calming, but sitting in that dark train car and experiencing the lights outside was a surreal experience. At the final destination, Miyanoshita Station, the passengers are allowed off the train to view and take pictures of the flowers and lights. On the way home, various opinions of the illumination were tossed around. “When illuminated from below the light source is visible and too bright for the eye. It might be better from above?” “It was a good idea to create certain condensed areas…

10 April 2006 Reported by Yukiko Saito Reported News, Surveys, and Events Nihonbashi & Sumidagawa Riverwalk…Tsutomo Nagatsu Light Up Ninja: Singapore…Kaoru Mende Kyoto City Lighting Survey…Momoko Muraoka Kobe City Lighting Survey…Tsutomo Nagatsu Christmas Illumination Survey…Musashino Art U. Students Candle Night Winter Solstice 2005…Saiko Tanuma Nihonbashi & Sumidagawa Riverwalk After a little bit of a dry spell, the Lighting Detectives gathered once again for the usual and unusual round table discussion at the Shibuya Headquarters. With so many events to report, the night started off with the most recent city walk, a chartered boat tour up the Nihonbashi and Sumidagawa Rivers. Seeing the city lights from the river is always exciting and a hot discussion of lighting pros and cons kept the river rats entertained. Light Up Ninja, Singapore Chief of the Lighting Detectives, Kaoru Mende, also reported on the first Light Up Ninja event in Singapore. The two-day workshop was held in November of last year at Singapore`s Duxton Plain Park. From the event photographs, participants of all ages were enthusiastic and creative in their lighting designs. Japanese City Lighting Survey The night continued with reports from our series on Japanese cities with lighting surveys from Kyoto and Kobe. Kyoto is always a beautiful city to view, but even the simplest street lights reflecting off the rain drenched streets added a mystical element to the photographs. Situated along the bay, Kobe was compared and contrasted to, twin city, Yokohama, also…

20 March 2006 Redevelopment in Tokyo is at an all time high, but with big construction comes consequence. On this city walk 26 lighting detective set off on a river tour to rediscover Nihonbashi and Sumida Rivers. As more and more light is spreading throughout the city, we set out to rediscover the contrast and shadows of these closed off rivers. Survey by: Teruhiko Kubota An Artificial Darkness Shinjuku, Shibuya, Ginza….All places that come to mind as hot Tokyo night spots, and all places a glow in a dull brightness. All are crowded, loud, and built-up with as much lighting to match. But on this city walk along Nihonbashi and Suimda Rivers, my impression of Tokyo changed. In contrast to these areas of obnoxious light, the river ways were filled with shadows. They weren’t gloomy, dark shadows, but man-made shadows under bridges, overpasses, and highway junctions. I was pleasantly surprised to see these places left in Tokyo; especially under bridges it was pitch-dark!! Darkness and shadows don’t leave one with a warm-fuzzy impression, but this river trip awoke something in me. We go through each day and night in such brightly lit places that we might be taking dark places for granted that they will always be somewhere. After this experience on the “dark side” the main areas of Tokyo seem extremely bright. As a lighting designer, our job is to create space using light as our tool, I realized…

17 November, 2005 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

9 November 2005 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…

28 July, 2005 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

12 July 2005 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…

5 April, 2005 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. Imperial 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…

25 March 2005 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…