Lighting Hero & Villain of the month is now up!

2023.10.17　　Noriko HIgashi Kozushima-Island is the second island in Japan to be certified as a starry sky protected area by the International Dark Sky Association in 2020. The island is working to create a town free of light pollution by replacing street lights that do not send unnecessary light into the sky. Through a workshop, we found out how the villagers feel about the nighttime environment that has changed as a result of these efforts. The International Dark Sky Association is a group of astronomers, doctors, and environmentalists from around the world working to address the problem of light pollution. It grants certification called International Dark Sky Places to cities and places around the world that have taken measures to prevent light pollution. The hurdle is high, as they have to clear fairly high standards to be certified.Kozushima-Island received that certification in 2020. About 600 streetlights and security lights on the island were replaced with ones that do not leak light into the sky. The color temperature was also standardized to 2700K. In addition to protecting the starry sky, sea turtles, which have not been seen for decades, have been seen laying eggs, greatly contributing to the improvement of the surrounding ecosystem. Residents’ reactions to the replacement of the street lights were generally positive, with many saying that they were comfortable because the white, overly bright lights were gone. However, some said that they felt unsafe in some areas because of…

Interviewer: Satomi Yamaguchi Mende：So, today’s topic of conversation is “What is your favorite season of the year?” So… What is your favorite season of the year? Yamaguchi：Spring.  Especially early spring.  Plants are shooting up, budding cherry blossoms, trees covered in pastel pink flowers.  It makes me feel so excited.  Mende：You could almost say late winter.  Where did you grow up?  Did you wait out long, dark winters for springtime? Yamaguchi：I am from Tokyo.  Since I take care of many plants, I have really become more conscious of the seasons.  What is your favorite season of the year? Mende：When I was growing up it was probably summer.   During the last few years of elementary school I took up playing music, after that I really began to enjoy the fall.  The turning of colors and preparations for the long and lonely winter ahead is very moving.  I think I’m a romanticist.  The fish tail rows of light, fluffy clouds are very different from the aggressive thunder clouds of the summer season.  These clouds reveal the first glimpses of autumn.  Although, I really don’t dislike any season of the year, which is my real answer, but I do love the cultural atmosphere of the fall season.  I think it is the real season of love.  Yamaguchi：I think the saying goes that people fall in love and the spring and break up in the autumn.   Mende：When I was younger I never liked the confused…

Date of Issue：September 04, 2019 ・Activity 1／City Night Survey　Chongqing City （2019/07/04-07/05） ・Activity 2／City Night Walk Vol.64 ： Skybus Tour（2019/07/26） ・Activity 3／Congraturation on Newsletter Vol.100 Lighting Detectives Report Vol.100　Download PDF City Night Survey　Chongqing City 2019.07.04 – 2019.07.05　Nasahiro Iwata+Clement Lee We spent two days investigating Chongqing City in China on July 4th and 5th. We investigated life in the city, its culture, and history (that links back to the Song dynasty) and how those are changing and coexisting with the new developments there, focusing on the evolution of lighting and how that affects the people and the building development there. Chongqing’s Central Area Chongqing is famous for its spicy hot pot. For my first visit, I set off anticipating findings that were more thrilling than the spicy peppers in their local cuisine. The lives of those in Chongqing Our investigation is based in Chongqing Yuzhong District. Here it is around 6 km east to west and 2km north to south and was developed as an extremely compact city, surrounded by both the Jialing and Yangtze rivers, and is almost an island. It is supported by a man-made base made using the method of Jiajiaolou and floats as if it’s a mountain above the sea. Sometimes to go to the other side of the building, you have to take an elevator from underground to the 11th floor or take a detour. Chongqing is a city that is also known by the name of…

This time each year I rely heavily on the Rain Gods not to forsake me. June 22nd, including summer and winter, I count this as the 7th time we have held the Candle Night Event and today’s weather forecast was rain. If it is just a sprinkle the show will go on, but this year the prediction was a downpour. After five years of great weather for the event, it looked like our time was up. Come to think of it, the Lighting Detectives seem to get rained on or out of a lot of previous events, with most of the blame coming my way and my incompatibility with the Rain Gods. It was time to fight for this event and keep our perfect score at Lighting Detectives 7: Rain Gods 0! After much chanting and praying to the Rain Gods, at 7 o`clock, just before the event was to start, miraculously nobody needed an umbrella! The pictures to the right are of the Jingu-mae Elementary School children and their parents as they gather near Meiji Shrine, the community service group, Green Bird, and the Tama Art University students who attended preparatory workshops. Everyone having a good time and without umbrellas! For more details of this years event there is a nice write-up on our website, but I want to specially recognize the Harajuku Community Planning Board and Omotesando Hills for their cooperation this year. With their help it seemed…

Date of Issue: 20 November, 2023-Activity 1 / Night Walk Vol.72 – Sangenjaya & Kyoto（2023.09.26）-Activity 2 / Round Table Discussion vol. 70 – Sangenjaya & Kyoto Review (2023.10.27)-Activity 3 / Visiting Tanteidan in Kozushima-Island (2023.10.17)-Activity 3 / Night Walk in Hong Kong Historic Meet Light @ Hong Kong Island Mid Level (2023.09.05) Night Walk Vol.72: Sangenjaya & Kyoto ～Let’s Go Search for Darkness～2023.09.26　Shinichi Sakaguchi ＋ Tomoya Furukawa＋Ryuji Hatta ＋ Ryuma Shiota＋Noriko Higashi This time, our night walk survey was themed “Exploring the Darkness of the City,” taking us through the green paths of Setagaya in Tokyo and visiting shrines in Kyoto where darkness lingers. Typically, our walks focus on the lights of the city, but this time we decided to take a different approach with the theme “Let’s Search for the Darkness of Tokyo”. While parks, shrines, and cemeteries are places with inherent darkness, we thought there wasn’t much room for discussion. Instead, we focused on Setagaya’s green paths, which are commonly used at night for commuting, school, and jogging. Although these paths are very pleasant during the day and popular for strolls, we wanted to see what the nighttime environment is like, so we divided into three groups to explore. (Noriko Higashi) ■ Group 1: Ikejiri-Ohashi to Sangenjaya The first group walked along the Meguro River Greenway and the Karasuyama River Greenway from Ikejiri-Ohashi to Sangenjaya, which are connected by a single greenway, and we were able to feel the various expressions of the greenways from different…