Interviewer:　Misuzu Nakamura Thme：Waterscapes with Light Nakamura　Ok.  So, today I thought we could talk about waterscapes with light.  I just got back from a trip to survey the urban lightscape of Bangkok.   The scenery along the rivers and surrounding waterscape, such as the Chao Phraya River and the floating markets in outlying areas, was very impressive.  The river water was very murky, but the reflection of lights on the surface at night was so pretty.   Right now, I am also working on a project where the waterscape is a very important feature of the project.   So I have been thinking a lot lately about what is so charming about waterscapes with lights. Mende　Water and lighting design are deeply rooted.   In terms of urban lighting, the most prominent cities that underwent development long ago were surrounded by water.   In terms of Bangkok, the lighting along the waterscapes is not especially good, but the illumination of Wat Arun and the elevation along the riverside reflects beautifully in the water. Nakamura　Upon reflecting in the water the lighting then becomes beautiful. Mende　In lighting design glass and water are two very important materials.  Their properties are also very similar.  Both are not very easy to work with, but very interesting.  Frosted glass or textured glass is very good at replicating light, but clear glass is not.  It doesn’t reflect light at all. Nakamura　Glass will uniformly receive and transmit light, but the surface of water simmers, creating…

Interviewer: Eddy Lau Eddy: Today’s topic for the coffee break is “Favourite Place to Travel”. Mende-san, you must be travelling a lot. Do you have any favourite place, you will not get bored of visiting again and again, or even living there? Mende: Yes, I have been to so many places, but it is hard to decide which one is my favourite. Each place is very interesting to explore. Eddy: For me, one of my favourites is Barcelona in Spain because the weather there in summer is amazing, sunbathing on such a beautiful long coastline. Especially for tourists to explore the city, there is such a nice walkable environment with stunning historical architectures all around the city, which are surprises everywhere to discover. The food is nice, and so are the people. How about if you want to move to a place, other than Japan, where will it be? Mende: I mean moving to live at a new country and travelling is a little bit different. Maybe travelling is more like a first impression. I never stay in one place for a long time, like studying aboard. So, I almost get a bit nervous living aboard, and you know, staying in Tokyo is much more convenient. There is one place that comes to my mind. My wife and I went twice or thrice to Andalusia, southern Spain, and there is a very small city called Ronda. This was the first…

Design Starting with Imitating Interviewer:　Kentaro Tanaka Tanaka： Today, I thought we could talk about lighting design and how to protect copyrights, but I think I`ll tone it down a bit. Shall we discuss the act of imitating instead? So to waste no time, a perfect copy of the original is a big no-no, but what about imitating? Is it important? Mende：Hmmm. It might be an “honor” to have something imitated, but the act of imitating can lead to noticeable crudeness. Have you ever imitate someone else’s work? I`ve copied many gestures and behaviors over the years. Tanaka：In the profession of design there are so many imitations. Product design, emblems, fashion, etc. You see and hear about copies all the time. Mende：I don`t think that is imitating, but plagiarism and stepping over the line to outright infringement of copyright. However, all of the great architects and designers want to be better than those before them. Tanaka：Yes, you are right. Outright, wrongful intent is just a knockoff. But I think it is a blurred line. There are those that want to learn from the great, but intentional use is unaccusable. As a professional designer, there are so many times you have a vague feeling of I`ve-seen-this-somewhere-before. And usually, it is probably a similar idea just in a different shape or context. I think design work is a lot of mixing up of things we have seen or are still in our memory…

DateDecember: 6th, 2002 Program: Symposium Venue: Tokyo Design Center Theme of Transnational Tanteidan Forum 2002 in TOKYO was “Regional Lighting Environment.” Various regions around the world have nurtured characteristic cultures of light. The globalization of information and industries, however, has been standardizing lighting technologies, which has caused the loss of unique lighting cultures created through individual ethnic culture, climate, history, religion, and social conditions. It is interesting to comparatively study people’s living environments with the focus on “regional light.” Through discussing similarities and differences in cultures, we may contribute to the preservation of characteristics in regional lighting cultures and create new cultures of light. Lighting Detectives always researches and studies the current lighting environment of a place. Light is “collected,” categorizing lights into four groups: urban lighting, architectural lighting, residential lighting, and lighting of special events and celebrations. The current situations are researched and reported. We seek significance in lighting through comparing and analyzing the lighting environments.

Our survey took place after the dust settled from the construction rush to finish infrastructure for the 2004 Athens Olympics. Around the main tourist attractions the lighting atmosphere was very orderly, but in Athens the ancient and modern co-habitat to create a charming townscape, possibly found in no other city. Under a perfect blue sky, the Parthenon stands surrounded by Doric columns. Over the years under direct sunlight, weathering has taken its toll on the building, but its presence still gives the illusion of a slip back in time. An illuminated Parthenon as viewed from the historic district of Plaka. Seeing the historic townscape, as it must have been in ancient times intertwined with modern adaptations, is one of the attractions of the Athens nightscape. To the eye, significant contrasts in light and dark are apparent in Sintagma Square. Some of the most brightly lit places in the plaza registering 300lx and the places like the stairs leading down to the plaza completely dark. Some fixtures also seem as bright as the sun, almost like afternoon daylight.