June 18, 2005
Kaleidoscope is now open!
"Candle Kaleidoscope" is an online message board for pictures. Please visit at
http://www.candle-night.org/2005summer/home.html and click "Enter".
Participants can send photographs of their Candle Night taken by mobile phone cameras or digital cameras via e–mail, and those photos will appear on the board. And when you put a cursor on a picture, the attached message will also appear. The boards will be a mandala-like photo gallery of various images of the Candle Night event.
Time: June 18, 20:00 through June 21, 22:00 (Japan Standard Time)
e-mail address: photo@candle-n.org
Note: You can send the title (15 letters)
and a message (45 letters) with the picture.
candlenight : 10:01 PM
Event Information
*"Count Down Event" at the Tokyo Tower & Zojoji Temple
Time: June 19 (SAT) from 16:00 to 22:00
Place: Zojoji Temple, Minato-ku, Tokyo
http://www.daichi.or.jp/pc/candlenight/happyakuyatou05.html
*"Candle Night at Omotesando"
Time: June 19 (SAT) from 19:30 to 22:00
Place: Omotesando, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo
http://www.candle-night.org/2005summer/event/view.php?id=214
*"GeshiFes 2005"
("geshi" means "summer solstice")
Time: June 21 (TUE) from 18:00 to 20:30
Place: Yoyogi Park, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo
http://geshifes.cultivaders.com/event.html
*"Candle Night Summer Solstice in EXPO 2005 Aichi"
Time: June 18 through 21, from 11:00 to 18:00: Candle Workshop—handmade beeswax candles
June 21(TUE) from 16:00-20:30: Talk show & Music Live
Place: Earth Square, "NGO Global Village" in EXPO 2005 AICHI.
candlenight : 09:37 AM
June 17, 2005
A message from Australia
Greetings to Candle Nighters on the other side of the world.
Here in Nimbin, Australia we had our first Candle Night party in June 2001. Once again this year our house will be bathed in the ethereal glow of candlelight as we enjoy good food and the company of friends. And as it is mid-winter here in the southern hemisphere, our fireplace will have a roaring fire to ward off the chill of the night.
And once again this year we will be adding a small practical step to the symbolism of our candle night celebration:-
Greenfleet, an Australian not for profit organisation, has a website that makes it very quick and easy for us to neutralise the effect of the carbon dioxide released by our modern lifestyles.
By planting forests of biodiversity in areas that have been damaged by deforestation and land degradation, Greenfleet can offset the CO2 emissions of people living anywhere in the world.
For $20 or less anyone can have their whole year's electricity use offset; alternatively they can sequester the CO2 from their car usage - even their air flights!
By planting trees Greenfleet is not only helping to slow global climate change, but at the same time contributing to the greening the planet. And amazingly your tree planting contributions will only add between 2 and 3% to the utility bills, fuel costs and airfares that make our modern life so comfortable and convenient.
Until renewable, non-polluting sources of energy, and technologies for greater energy efficiency become widely available I recommend this small step to everyone celebrating the Candle Night. Visit the Greenfleet website at:
www.greenfleet.com.au
Wishing everyone an enjoyable Candle Night,
Nigel and Yoko
Nimbin, Australia
candlenight : 04:51 PM
Candlescape is now open!
http://www.candle-night.org/scape/
Participants can send their messages to the Candlescape. With the use of postal codes, the system can identify the participant's location and can visualize it on the map of Japan with their message. Please visit the site, click "status view" and see how it works. Currently we have only Japanese map, but we would like to expand it worldwide in the near future.
candlenight : 01:40 PM
Candle Night in South Korea --Candle Night Newsletter #3
Candle Night in South Korea
The preparation of the first "Candle Night" event in South Korea has been underway, mainly by college students in Seoul.
On the night of Summer Solstice, June 21, 2005, exterior lights of the youth culture center will be dimmed, and candles designed by art students will be exhibited. Various other plans such as music events and offering organic coffee samples are in preparation.
The students created a "community cafe", an online message board, asking others to join them. With the help and advice of other environmental NGOs and ex-journalists, they have tried to plan the first event in South Korea. The message board is found at: http://cafe.daum.net/candlenight
The students are planning to hold another Candle Night event in larger scale in October 2005. The Candle Night Newsletter will cover their initiative possibly in the future issues.
candlenight : 01:36 PM
Essay--Shinichi Tsuji--Candle Night Newsletter #3
Essay
Shinichi Tsuji (Keibo Oiwa)
Candle Night Committee
Cultural anthropologist, Professor at Meiji Gakuin University
Summer Solstice--it is the longest day of the year. Many traditional societies cerebrated, worshiped and prayed for it as a holy day. They were in awe and thankful--people at that time realized that they could only live thanks to the solar energy. However, no one today seems to remember those facts.
When you turn off the lights, darkness comes back. It has been a long time since the darkness disappeared from Japanese cities, where 80 percent of people live. Some people want to watch the moon and stars, or fireflies. Some might sit still in the darkness and some exchange their love for each other. Some make fire and others light candles. The flame of candles accentuates the darkness, and the darkness highlights the fire.
The majority of Japanese people eat dinner watching TV. Is this a sign of affluence? To me, this is simply a sign of cultural impoverishment. Let us turn out the lights and eat dinner under andlelight. Just a little act like that can give us a great opportunity: forming a circle, eating together and sitting by the firelight. Just think about it. Aren't these three major factors of culture to show what we, humankind, are all about?
I have had many opportunities to take my students to the ancient forests of North and South America. They looked happiest when they sat around a bonfire at night. Some even cried with a full smile on their faces. Then I realized--I took them all the way to see the moment. At the same time I was appalled by the fact that our "affluent" society could not give our children even that much joy. We seem to have pursued freedom under the fluorescent lamps.
We have been fixed in a strange idea that the more electricity we consume and the brighter the nights are, then society is more affluent and advanced, as the U.S. President Bush suggested 5 years ago that U.S. economy would be secured only if they construct one or two new power plants every week for the next 20 years. However, can we call it "economy" when its pursuit for money allows us to wage a war or to destroy the ecosystem that supports our lives?
Darkness, candlelight and bonfire will bring us a relaxing and peaceful time. Going with the flow of the time, we can come back to life from the madness of the "fast life" that has occupied us for a long time. Some might cynically say to us, "Such a little thing will not work for energy-saving," but we do not need to hold back. Candle Night can change me, and then the world, which I am part of, can certainly change, even though the change may be slight.
There is a folk legend that has been transmitted among indigenous peoples of South America.
"The forest was on fire.
All the animals, insects and birds in the forest rushed to escape.
But there was one little hummingbird named Kurikindi, or Golden Bird,
who stayed behind.
This little bird went back and forth between water and fire, dropping a single
drop of water from its beak onto the fire below.
When the animals saw this, they began to laugh at Kurikindi.
"Why are you doing that?" they asked.
And Kurikindi replied, "I am only doing what I can do."
--I am as little as the hummingbird, but I will do just what I can do, too.
candlenight : 01:33 PM
