

City Night Survey- Chiang Mai Lantern Festival 2023.11.25 – 11.29 Angkana Kongchatri (Tan)+Momoko Muraoka Chiang Mai is the second largest city in Thailand which has special atmosphere tracing from Lannar kingdom period. Tan from Bangkok and Momoko from Tokyo traveled to the city for a survey. ■Back ground of the survey The lantern festival in Chiang Mai has been getting very high attention from international tourists since a couple of decades ago. Due to its visual appeal, the festival has become an explosively hot tourist spot and activity. As number of tourists raise up, the negative side of the festival also becoming a serious issue, such as the risks of fire and abandoned trashes which cause suffering to local people. In this SNS era, the speed and frequency of exchanging information has become extremely heavy than ever. When very local culture gets intensive attention from unidentified crowds, then the one to retain the culture need to face and respond the troubles to come with the anonymous attention which is also happening on the lantern festival in Chiang Mai. Festivals with lights are attractive. However, overlooking the wastes happening materially and culturally cannot be accepted anymore. Through this survey, we aim to observe not only the bright side but also the problems and struggles behind which could relate with many other traditional lighting festivals. We believe that the approach could bring another layer of depth for the lighting detective activity with…
2023.01.20-01.22 Yuichi Anzai+ Chuanyi Liu ■Kozushima Village Kozushima is located about 180 kilometers south of central Tokyo with a population of about 1,800. The terrain is complex, with almost no flat land. The village is located in the center of the island at the foot of Mt. Tenjo. The impetus for the starry sky protection activities on Kozushima came from a comment made during a student internship program by the Tourism Foundation in 2016, that the night sky was as beautiful as a planetarium. The starry sky, a common sight on the island, has become a tourism resource. An island-wide effort to protect the sky began. Specific efforts include replacing streetlights and security lights with fixtures with 0% upward luminous flux and 2,700K color temperature, holding explanatory meetings for residents and regular workshops with experts to gain their understanding and cooperation in light pollution and starry sky protection activities, training islanders as guides, and holding star gazing events to protect the night sky from light pollution and communicate the appeal of the starry sky both on and off the island. The island is also working to protect the night sky from light pollution and convey the charm of the starry sky to the public. The “Light Pollution Prevention Ordinance to Protect the Beautiful Starry Sky of Kozushima Village,” which specifies the responsibilities of residents and businesses to prevent light pollution, will be enacted in 2019, and rules are being developed to…
The Television Broadcasting Tower looks down on the orange sodium lamps overflowing from the grid patterned streets of Sapporo. While on assignment in December we were able to view the multi-colored White Illumination set up along Ohdori Park and Sappore Eki Mae Street. Looking towards Ohdori Promenade from the JR Tower. Sapporo is a beautiful city at twilight with orange light from the streets to set off the blue-tinted snow-topped roofs. The tree-lined street, Sapporo Ekimae Avenue is a sight to see with its unique style of looping lights over tree branches. Visitors with cameras and mobile phones converge on the decorated Ohdori Promenade. Sapporo Television Tower, similar to Tokyo Tower and Nagoya Tower, and all designed by the same architect, is also illuminated with the same type of sodium lamp.
Manhattan is a sleepless city of luminous spectacles, a city everyone dreamed of in the 20th century could have imagined. The energy of the people is transformed into the bright lights of the nightscape, as lights dot the skyscrapers all day and night. The beauty nightscape at New York City is best seen in its skyline from across the river. Looking down on Manhattan from the Empire State Building at dusk. The Streets and Avenues present a rock-solid, ridged foundation. The RCA Building glows a bright white, Fifth Avenue is a yellowish-gold, and the point of the Chrysler building can be seen. Walls of light surround Times Square with the latest technology incorporated into the different interactive lights. The Empire State Building, a well-established icon in the Manhattan skyline with a 360°view from the top.
2025.04.19 Hikaru Kimura + Noriko Higashi When we first held a workshop in Hida Furukawa in 2023, city hall staff told us just how deeply the people of Furukawa cherish their festival. At the Hida Furukawa Festival Exhibition Hall, we were given explanations about the history of the festival and the stalls. We also had the opportunity to see the storehouses where each neighborhood keeps its stall, as well as the lantern stands placed in front of individual houses. This inspired us to head to Furukawa with the intent of exploring and documenting the festival scenes that are so important to the local people. The Furukawa Festival, held annually on April 19th and 20th, is designated as a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage and a National Important Intangible Folk Cultural Asset of Japan. It’s a community-wide celebration so deeply rooted in the town’s identity that even former residents living outside the area for school or work return home specifically for the festival. The event centers around two main elements: the “Okoshi Daiko,” a ritual where a giant drum is paraded through the town and beaten throughout the night, and the “Yatai Procession,” where each neighborhood pulls its own stall through the streets. When we first visited Furukawa in April 2022 for a workshop, it happened to be just after the festival had ended. The excitement had slightly faded, and the town was in the midst of cleanup. During that time, we…

