Slow Life-A Vow to "Diet of Light"
December 10, 2004

Kaoru Mende
Lighting designer, leader of the Transnational Lighting Detectives,
Professor at Musashino Art University

I am a lighting designer and have been working in the field of
urban environmental and architecture lighting. My job is to
propose designs for indoor or outdoor lighting to meet the clients'
expectations. Against the current trend in lighting design i.e.
adding up excessive light, I often focus on "shadow design" as a way
of lighting. That means that beautiful shadows or striking
darkness can be generated by reducing unnecessary light and using
minimum lighting only in necessary places. As a matter of fact,
lighting design is synonymous with shadow design. I believe an
important theme in lighting design is the careful use of shadows
and darkness. It's not just about filling a space with light.

We are all suffering from "bulimia of light." In fact, there are many
people who have never been moved to tears by watching the sky full
of stars, or those who have stepped on shadows under the bright
moon light. They have been forced to live watching bright TV and
computer screens since they were born. Some children are not able
to sleep in the darkness. This is especially true for Japanese
people, who like to use extremely bright fluorescent lamps even for
residential use. Due to limited sources of illumination in the past,
the Japanese have come to associate bright lights with wealth and
abundance. They have come to have an unusual sense of brightness.
The Japanese are not proud of their insensitivity to light. The
reason behind this insensitivity is that Japanese people have never
experienced an eye-friendly, comfortably lit environment. The
Japanese have worked hard to light brightly and evenly but now
realize that it's the quality of the light matters, not the quantity.

Excessively high luminance levels at convenience stores and drug
stores create a living environment where day and night are
reversed. Nobody would be troubled, nor would anything happen if
all the convenience stores across Japan turned off the ceiling
lights by half and lowered the light level to 500 to 700 lux at night.
Customers may be stunned at first, but they would get used to it
comfortably in a week or so. Another change could be made to
vending machines, which are lit up all day. The lights could be
turned off during daylight hours, probably without any notice or
reaction.

To reduce the excessive lighting, what we call "Diet of Light," is
one of the central issues in the 21st century. How can we abandon
the vested interest of using abundant lighting we have created
since the last century, and how can we get away from "light
bulimia?" Lighting habits can be compared to eating habits. This
means that using a small amount of light wisely could be compared
to enjoying a small amount of healthy food. Japanese people have
been enjoying one of the healthiest and the most traditional diets
in the world. Why can't we also enjoy "healthy" amount of lights,
similar to the healthy traditional low-calorie, low-fat
vegetarian-like diet? Should we go to a fasting center to do that?
One of the important goals in living a so-called "slow life," a
relaxed, simplified life, is how to use lighting effectively. We need
to experience the utter darkness and its beauty to find a better way
of using minimum lighting in the so-called "slow life". We need to
reduce the volume of light in life. We need to start by enjoying the
darkness and the night. It is important for us to turn off lights and
get back to darkness because real darkness can make people realize
their fears. It can also make people reflect on their inner self, give
them time to think of their loved ones and of their past.
Furthermore, when in complete darkness people can then
appreciate and be fascinated by even small amounts of light. The
Candle Night movement offers us an opportunity to share the value
of a "Diet of Light" with people all over the world. The experience
of darkness, even for a brief moment, is important.

Notes from the Candlelight Committee: In the Candle
Night-Summer Solstice 2004 event, Japan's major convenience
stores such as Seven-Eleven and Lawson cooperated to turn off
their signs altogether. On Omotesando Street in Harajuku, Tokyo,
one of the trendiest fashion streets in Japan, fancy boutiques such
as Channel and other stores turned off the lights during the Candle
Night event. This means that people's sense of value seems to be
changing.

Kaoru Mende is one of the leading figures of the event in
Omotesando.