Round Table Discussion in Aug.

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…

Shimokitazawa is a neighborhood of small shopping streets and alleyways, projecting a strange, but comfortable atmosphere, as people crowd the backstreets until late in the night. However, plans to replace this quaint neighborhood with arterial roads and high-rises are underway. The detectives took what maybe a last chance to survey this area before it is “defaced.” The top half and rooftops of most buildings do not have any luminous signage. As a result, a bird’s eye view of this neighborhood is actually fairly dark. The station front plaza is filled with people listening to music from sidewalk acts or looking at street art. The crowds of people naturally overflow into a nearby street. If an arterial road is planned for this area, this atmosphere will be lost forever. Two streets back-to-back, but built to two different scales and with two different demeanors. On the left is Shimokitazawa`s main south entrance shopping street. With many interior decor shops, the lighting is bright and color temperature is high. One street inside and the atmosphere and lighting are more relaxed. Low color temperature, incandescent lamps from restaurants, cafes, and bars are the main source of light.

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 stations have the same structural features, the purpose of our survey was to see how each architect, from the same starting point, reacted to design a unique station in terms of materials, color, and light. Minato Mirai St. / Kunihiko Hayakawa All the stations along the line are designed with the platform on floor B3 and the ticket wicket on B2, from there you climb to ground level, but at the Minato Mirai Station the shopping center, Queen’s Square, is on the ground floor. Using this to an advantage, the main feature of this station is strategically placed atriums, making it possible to view the shopping center 3 floors up from the platform and vice versa. The openness and air circulation from the high ceilings help to create a comfortable station atmosphere. The main colors and materials of this station are red, yellow, matte silver, and blue aluminum. The colors and materials were used to form horizontal axes throughout the station, emphasizing the speed and efficiency of the subway line. The entire station is basically illuminated in white light, but a more sunlight-beach influenced color might be more appropriate for this hot date spot, popular with the younger crowd. Bashamachi St….

To be active as a professional after coming back from maternity leave Interviewer:　Mami Kono the origin that Graduation production of the university that became the starting point for the world of light Imagine 5-years ahead and set a goal Kono：Today I`d like to talk about making a life plan. And today is your birthday, so Happy Birthday!! Mende：Yes, 66 today. Repeated digits, seems like a good number, but it’s kind of an in-between year. I don`t know if I am classified as old or young?! Kono：I turn 32 this year. Mende：Wow, 32…When you were 29, just turning 30, did you feel the “I can`t believe I`m turning 30!” blues? Kono：Yes!! I wasn`t married yet, but I had a really fulfilling job and private life. But I felt lost about where I was headed in life. Mende： I always set goals or have an image marked off in 10-year segments. Kono：When did you start setting goals? Mende：When was that? I quit my office job at 40. Maybe after that, I really started to envision things around 42 or 43 and then what I would be doing at 52 or 53 and so on. Kono：I returned from LPA Singapore this year and now I am going to have a baby. Up until now, all my time and energy went to whatever I wanted to do. But now I have a husband and soon a baby, I can`t live the single life anymore!…

Date of Issue：March 19, 2019 ・Activity 1／Belgrade of Light 2019 （2019/02/04-02/09） ・Activity 2／World Lighting Journey 2018 Retrospective: An Interview with the Chief Mende（2019/02/18） Belgrade of Light 2019 2019/02/04-02/09 | Aleksandra Stratimirovic Belgrade of Light event, organised by Belgrade Lighting Detectives, opened a new decade of activities with programme Imagine Light during the period 4th to 9th of February at KC GRAD (Belgrade, Serbia). ■Lighitng Detectives Belgrade Chapter Belgrade of Light 2019 was held for 6 days at KC GRAD. Five artists, art groups and collectives, with their dynamic performances, installations and exhibitions played with motion, light and sound, transforming gallery at KC GRAD, into entirely different experience every night during the event. THE BOX | Q / TI / JA by Radio.Nica ■Day 1：THE BOX | Q/TI/JA Spectacular performance by Radio.Nica – [THE BOX | Q / TI / JA] opened Belgrade of Light 2019. The performance was inspired with “The Ray of the Microcosm” by Petar II Petrovic Njegos, and with the help of the graphoscopic alchemy, lasers, crystals and other analog sources of light, Radio.Nica was creating pure magic on the stage. Radio.Nica is a flexible and ever-changing group of artists with different backgrounds (theater directors, designers, dramaturges, performers, circus artists etc.) experimenting with light design. LUMINESCENCE by Incredible Bob ■Day 2： LUMINESCENCE High quality, dense, Belgrade’s dark and Luminescence in it – a light installation by Incredible Bob. This darkness intercepted with light from various light sources,…