Meguro River Cherry Blossom Illumination Night Walk Review 2019.04.17　　 Erina Hosono On April 17, as the cherry blossom season came to a close and the warmth finally arrived, a review session of the Meguro River cherry blossom illumination night walk survey was held.The element that many members recognized as a hero was the water surface of the Meguro River, reflecting the rows of pink lanterns. Members shared that the sight was mystical and beautiful, with illuminated cherry branches and blossoms swaying above while the lights flickered on the water below. However, the discussions regarding the floodlights used to illuminate them, the color of the light, and the overall environment surrounding the illumination brought forth many conflicting opinions. Heated debate over the ideal light color for cherry blossom illumination The discussion regarding the color of the cherry blossom illumination—the centerpiece of the festival—was split into three main perspectives. Some argued that it should be lit with white light to meet the expectation that “Meguro River is all about white cherry blossoms,” while others preferred warm bulb-colored light. There was even a candid opinion suggesting that “since the goal of flower viewing is drinking, does it even matter?” However, everyone agreed with the suggestion to experiment with high-color-rendering light sources that enhance the delicate, pale pink hues of the blossoms.Regarding the floodlights used to illuminate the trees, the vast majority pointed out issues with glare. villain designations were concentrated on examples where…

Date of Issue: 25 December, 2025・Activity 1 / City Night Survey : Perth, Australia（2025.10.28-11.01）・Activity 2 / City Night Survey : Xi’An, China（2025.11.06-11.09） City Night Survey：Perth, Australia Urban Light and Natural light in Western Australia2025.10.28 – 11.01 Hongna Chen + Puyu Wu This lighting survey investigates the influence of Western Australia’s local culture and natural landscape on its lighting environment, exploring whether its relative remoteness has led to distinctive approaches in lighting design. For this purpose, field investigations were conducted in Perth and its surrounding natural areas. ■ Perth’s Geographic LocationPerth is a city in Western Australia and is often described as the world’s most isolated major city. This characterization stems from its extreme remoteness with the Indian Ocean to the west, vast outback deserts to the east, and long distances from other major cities—about 4,000 km from Darwin, 2,700 km from Adelaide, and over 3,000 km from eastern cities such as Sydney and Melbourne. The unique nightscape of such a “remote” city is the central focus of this survey. ■ Panoramic Night ViewTo take in the city’s nightscape from above, we chose King’s Park, the largest park in Perth. The park is a popular recreational spot for locals. On our way up, we saw many people hiking, picnicking, and sunbathing. We joined them at the hilltop to await nightfall. From Kings Park, Perth’s nighttime view clearly reveals the structure of the city’s lighting. The CBD skyline is defined by clusters…

Sydney Lighting Survey: How Sydney CBD glows at night 2019.09.19 – 2019.09.21　 Momoko Muraoka + Sunyoung Hwang Sydney, a capital city of New South Wales is famous for its beautiful beaches and iconic Opera House. It makes it to the most populous city of Australia with more than 5.2million population. The climate of Sydney is subtropical with no extreme seasonal differences. Highly saturated clear blue sky, lush greeneries, beautiful waterscape, and iconic Opera House – Sydney is the city that has it all. It is quite a lovely place to be and usually makes it to the top rankings for the most liveable cities in the world. This time, Lighting Detectives flew to Sydney to find out how it lights up at night as a famous tourist destination. The survey focuses on the Sydney CBD (Central Business District) area. When looked down from the Sydney Observatory, the city did not have much of the façade lighting. Many of the buildings were glowing with their interior lights. There were not much of RGB lights nor media facade light except few areas of Darling Harbour and Pitt Street, the shopping district. The shot taken from North Sydney to have an overall view of Sydney CBD with iconic Opera House and Harbour Bridge shows this more clearly. Sydney seemed rather classic with a warm tone of lighting on these iconic features and minimum architectural lights. Interview with the city of Sydney Interview with…

Discover Tanjong Pagar, Singapore 2021.10.22-2021.10.23 Lighting Detectives: Reiko Kasai, Sun Young Hwang, Sherri Goh, Quratuaini Jamil, Shirmine Tan, Xiao QingTeam Asagao: Hana Kasai, Victoria Wee, Marielle Ang, Elias Bay Our first activity since 2020!  Initiated by students in joint collaboration with Lighting Detectives.An evening out by the park, surrounded with twinkling lanterns. Members of the public enjoying the ambience An evening out by the park, surrounded with twinkling lanterns. We collaborated with student team Project Asagao in October for an installation to raise awareness and funds for Beyond Social Services.The student team comprise of 4 students from St Joseph Instituition International. The installation was part of their campaign for Citi-YFC, an initiative to enable youths to champion a charity of their choosing.     Kids playing around the lanterns   People enjoying the picnic Students crafting in the office Drawings from the youths under the charity were featured on the lanterns laid out on the lawn in the pattern of hearts.The lantern installation was initially planned to include a lantern-making workshop as well. However as Singapore was still in a lockdown, public participation was not encouraged.Despite the situation, the installation was very well received by the public with high turn-out for both days!It is our first physical Lighting Detectives activity in Singapore since the pandemic hit and took support from t h e Urban Redevelopment Authority of Singapore (URA) for us to leap through hoops and expedite the approval of…

Saint Petersburg is a city of deep imperial and artistic culture. As the city was once the capital of the Russian Empire, many impressive palaces and cathedrals convey this great history. Although, there are not many newly constructed buildings in the city and it doesn’t seem that the economic growth of recent years has improved the lighting environment of the city. Once a secret hide-a-way of the empress this building is now the State Hermitage Museum. As a former private art museum to royalty and aristocracy, the luxuriousness of the interior is a little overwhelming, but the lighting environment is absolutely beautiful. Pleasure boats run tours on the Neva Heba River at night to view the river nightscape cutting though the middle of the city. The shimmer of lights on the water’s surface is awe-inspiring. The fancily decorated palaces and cathedrals are symbols of this once imperial culture. At night most are light up to emphasis their beauty. However, the city also has many waterways and the nightscape along these canals is a lonelier story.