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 “…

16 September, 2010 Previously in March 2006 the Lighting Detectives navigated the Nihobashi and Kanda Rivers. It was such a unique experience leaving the Lighting Detectives wanting more, that we have tweaked the Tokyo river float tour to i…

3 June, 2010 The hottest tour in recent years is the famous Kawasaki Factory Night Bus Tour. Upon news of an upcoming tour, sales agents are bombarded with seat reservations, and within minutes the limited space is fully booked. This is the…

23 October, 2009 TV commercials featuring famous teenage heartthrobs are dissolving the trashy image of horseracing and making it more accessible to the public. For a change of pace, the Lighting Detectives gathered at Tokyo City Keiba for …

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 Imperia…

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 arc…

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 a…

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 Ci…

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 comple…

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…

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. E…

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 arc…

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. W…

15 December 2004 After a 10-minute bus ride from Shinkiba Station, the Lighting Detectives found themselves at the Asahi Helicopter Heliport ready for a fantastic 8-minute flight over Tokyo. The small, 6-passenger helicopter would take us u…

29 July 2004 It was a hot July evening when the 22 Lighting Detectives gathered at Hinode Pier to board the waterbus for a 50-minute tour down the Sumida River to Asakusa. It was early in the evening, just after dusk, and the lights from Od…

12 May 2004 The Minato Mirai Subway Line connects Yokohama Station to Yokohama China Town five stops away. Four different architects were commissioned to individually design four of the stations on this new subway line. Although all of the …

20 January 2004 Tokyo Dome City’s new multi-functional complex, LaQua, was the first stop on our city walk list this year. The new complex, with spa facilities, restaurants, shops, and amusement attractions, opened in May of 2003. The theme…