Taking a drive along the Tokyo Metropolitan Expressway is a great experience in the sequence of Tokyo light. In one drive you can catch glimpses of Tokyo Tower in between buildings, awe at the endless Ginza neon signage, and hide in the dark shadows surrounding the emperor’s palace and Tokyo Bay. Close up lights zoom by, but in the distance light is scattered everywhere, creating a complex sequence of overlapping elements. Such a variety of light exists in Tokyo! Rainbow Bridge and Tokyo Tower, Dual Features of the Tokyo Night (Ariake JCT～Shibaura JCT) At night the Rainbow bridge is a bridge of light connecting the Bayshore Route and Tokyo mainland. As we drove across the bridge, the Tokyo Tower that seemed to twinkling in the far distance became a dominating presence. However, all of the distance lights of Tokyo were swallowed by the cluster of buildings waiting for us on the Shibaura side of the bridge. The Lights of the Tokyo Nightscape (Ohi JCT ～ Shibaura JCT) Working from Haneda towards the center of Tokyo, among the rough and tumble lighting for warehouses and factories, is warm light spilling from offices and condominiums. The expressway takes a dive under the Tokyo Monorail for a real peak at Tokyo-style building light and luminous signage. The Expressway in the Ginza Sky (Tokyo Expressway) The Tokyo Expressway is elevated in midair as it cuts through Ginza. Officially, it is not part of the…

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…

Date of Issue: September 19, 2025・Activity 1/ Visiting Tanteidan in Aomori（2025.08.21-08.23）・Activity 2/ City Night Walk in Katong–Joo Chiat, Singapore（2025.07.18） Visiting Tanteidan in Aomori Tanteidan Jr. Kids Light Odyssey2025.08.21-08.23 　Kayo Sasamoto + Noriko Higashi At the request of the incorporated association TOCOL, we held children’s workshops in three locations in Aomori Prefecture: Nanbu Town, Hachinohe, and Hirosaki. 20 to 30 children participated in each location, and with flashlights in hand, they conducted a Night Walk Survey and lighting experiments. For three consecutive days in the middle of summer, from August 21-23, we held children’s workshops in Nanbu Town, Hachinohe City, and Hirosaki City in Aomori Prefecture. This workshop was held at the request of the incorporated association TOCOL. They had heard there weren’t many design-related workshops in the area and asked the Lighting Detectives to come and hold one. Since it was during summer vacation, each session was fully booked with 20 to 30 children. Parents also actively participated, and in some sessions, there were more questions from the adults than from the children. Before each Night Walk Survey, the children also got to try painting the traditional Aomori craft of Kingyo Neputa (a goldfish-shaped lantern), so the workshops were packed with content. Even though the sessions were long, from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m., the children participated enthusiastically. ■Nanbu Town, Where Darkness Remains　Nanbu Town is a district located about a 30-minute drive inland from Hachinohe, and it’s an area where…

Kichijoji is an area of Tokyo where a variety of elements are compressed together to create this unique neighborhood. However, even though it seems to be a mixture of “stuff” the area is well planned and organized. Public and private organizations have aggressively worked together in city planning and we surveyed the area to discover what kind of lighting environment or rules they have advised. Starting on the north side of the station, a commercial area, we then moved to the south side of the station and Inogashira Park and the alleyways that connect the park and station. North Side of the Station The lighting along the covered arcade shopping streets, Sun Road and Diamond Street, are LEDs, creating a modern atmosphere, but down some of the narrower alleyways, like Harmonic Alley, the lighting is retro for an exciting nightly stroll. Park Street The main street from the station to Inogashira Park is a narrow 3-meter wide street lined with small cafes, bars, and recycled clothing and nick-nack shops. Restaurant and shop lighting is a warm 3000k for a comfortable atmosphere, but most street lighting spills out from the entrance to these restaurants and shops. Once they are closed for the night the street is very dark. Inogashira Park Equip with solor panels, tall metal halide streetlights record 331lx inside the park. However, the average lux level inside the park is about 30lx. The streetlights are too bright, and ruin…

Interviewer: Yuta Shibata Shibata：Today I’d like to talk about memory and forgetfulness.   Since I started working at LPA, six months have passed.  Working as a lighting designer, I have found that memory is just as important as originality and creativity.   While working with several senior members of the staff, I have the impression that they have very good memorization skills.   I am not very good at memorizing things or trying to recall things. Mende：You sound like an old man.  Have you always been like that?  How about college entrance exams?  You have to remember a lot of boring facts and stuff. Shibata：Ever since I was young.  I had trouble remembering facts that would be on the college entrance exams, but I was good at math and physics, subjects where you think and solve problems through a thought process. Mende：I’m like that too.  I used to think that if I filled up my brain with arbitrary facts it would exceed capacity and I wouldn’t be able to produce new ideas.  But that’s completely wrong.  What is important for a designer is the power to imagine.  I have come to realize that memorization, good or bad, doesn’t really matter.  However, I am like you and had trouble with memorization and really suffered.  In grade school, history facts were always a problem and I made up phrases and rhymes to remember dates and events. Shibata：That is an interesting way to remember things.  I…