In Bangkok, the development of giant commercial facilities continues, as modern times blend with Buddhism to create the nightscape. The light from architecture, high-class restaurants, and shopping centers of these civilized, modern times are built right along side the fluorescent lights of roadside stands and vendors. Wat Arun, The Temple of the Dawn, illuminated; above all, gold is the symbol of culture and power in Thailand. Wat Arun from the opposite shore of the Chao Phraya River. The sunset also helps to convey the feeling of a country for the gods. Florescent lights shine on the street vendor`s restaurant signs, but incandescent lamps are used in the showcases.

Night Watching Tour：Oouchijuku Let’s go look at lights on the snow-scape! 2020.02.08- 2020.02.09　Namiko Watanabe + Noriko Higashi In search for a festival of lights in Japan, we headed to the Winter festival at Oouchijuku. Our 19 members headed north from Tokyo towards a fantastical view of snow and the lights of the old villages houses. Looking down on Oouchijuku, we were lucky it started snowing the day before, barely creating a beautiful snowscape Oouchijuku cuisine – Green Onion buckwheat noodles- where we use green onions as our chopsticks Located in South Aizu in Fukushima Prefecture, Oouchijuku prospered as a passing town on route from Nikkou to Wakamatsu in Aizu. It is a beautiful town, designated as an architectural cultural heritage, where cottages with thatched rooves still stand. Our Night-watching tour planning committee, after lots of investigation decided upon this Winter Festival in Oouchijuku. Let us find out if we were able to glimpse the view we were promised! ■Tour Cancelled⁉ The theme of this tour is “Let’s go look at lights on the snow-scape!”. Our goal for this tour was to go see the glimpse of warm light spilling out from cottages buried in the snow or as we like to think “THE Japanese Snow-scape and Cottage lighting”, but sadly this winter was an abnormally warm winter. It had not snowed even a week before the planned date for the tour. A lot of the festivals were cancelled or shrunk…

Date of Issue : March 14, 2019 ・Activity 1 / City Night Survey : Morocco （2018/9/30-10/08） ・Activity 2 / City Night Walk Vol. 62：Shibuya River（2018/10/02） ・Activity 3 / Round Table Discussion Vol. 60 : Shibuya River Review（2018/11/29） ・Activity 4 / Lighting Detectives Jr. @ Edo-Tokyo Open Air Architectural Museum（2018/12/01） City Night Survey in Morocco 2018/09/30-10/08 Shosaku Takahashi + Masafumi Yamamoto Morocco is located on the African continent but retains a strong influence from European countries such as neighboring Spain and France. It can be said that the cities have been formed under the influence of various cultures. This survey started in the major city of Marrakech, crossed the Atlas Mountains to visit the vast Sahara Desert inland, and then continued for ten hours and another 600 kilometers across the continent to reach the blue city of Chefchaouen. We experienced the climate, culture, and lifestyle of this country, which shines on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea while benefiting from the sun, and investigated the relationship between lighting and people’s lives. Djemaa el-Fna Square Many of the Old Town’s paths are covered with sunscreens The souk is bustling with people at night People watching street performers ■Arrival in Marrakech After driving four hours from Casablanca Airport, we saw the reddish-clay streetscape of the major city of Marrakech pop up in the middle of the wilderness. The moment we got out of the car in the old town, swarms of flies started…

Songdo newcity, Inchon and Seoul city2025.10.22- 2025.10.25 Karen Huang + Xueying Piao + Xianyu Liu The purpose of this Seoul lighting survey is to explore how lighting shapes the city’s identity and cultural expression of the urban landscape in the multiple layers of Seoul.With this purpose in mind, we went to Songdo, Incheon and Seoul for the servey. ■ Songdo InchonOn the first day of our site survey, we visited Songdo International Business District in Incheon. As a flagship planned development in Yeonsu-gu, this new town represents a remarkable urban planning achievement, constructed entirely on reclaimed land – essentially a future-city built from the ground up. The district demonstrates excellent connectivity, with the core area accessible within approximately 90 minutes via bus from Incheon International Airport. By around 8:00 PM, few people are on the street. Our survey focused on the central park area of Songdo. At street level, building facades demonstrated minimal use of decorative flood lighting, relying primarily on internal illumination to create a subdued atmosphere, while the commercial districts utilized abundant illuminated signage to inject vibrancy into the urban landscape. The most critical insight emerged from the view at G Tower: the urban planning framework is distinctly articulated through strategic color temperature zoning, with residential areas at 2700K transitioning to over 5000K for landmark structures, constituting a macro-level “light planning” methodology. Simultaneously, the concentrated application of architectural lighting to tower crowns effectively reinforces skyline identity while minimizing…

I started writing this column about 22 years ago.  Detective Note number 000 was released on August 9th, 1998.   Since then there have been blank periods with no posts, but today I am writing number 80.   I have reread bits and pieces of the previous 79 notes, which reveal glimpses of a wham-bam, comic show stretching over the past 20 years.  Each episode is entangled with unique light and shadow.  My point-blank approach is very me and amusing after all these years.  In the past month, and in the shadow of the raging coronavirus outbreak, I have reread some difficult books still on my bookshelf after tens of years and a few of my more light and humorous essays. In my younger days, it seems I found  it easier to write more transparent material.  As I have gotten older, my writing seems to be more self-conscious.  It isn’t interesting or beautiful writing at all.  This coming June I will reach a milestone of my 70th birthday, I think I`d like to take this opportunity to write and not worry about what others think.  Fortunately or unfortunately, LPA`s spacious new office was ready to move into this last February.   And here I sit all alone in our new office.   All staff are telecommuting from home, but I communicate with them daily at our regular morning ZOOM staff meeting and exercise session.   Although, I have to say, working by myself is very…