Somehow the views of the town from the office windows look brighter this summer than usual. Inside, some of the rows of fluorescent lights on the ceiling are off.
Somehow the views of the town from the office windows look brighter this summer than usual. Inside, some of the rows of fluorescent lights on the ceiling are off.
On July 1, the government imposed restrictions on electricity use by large consumers within the areas served by Tokyo Electric Power Co. and Tohoku Electric Power Co. as a step to avoid a summer power crunch.
Many Japanese will probably soon get accustomed to living with reduced lighting and working in the muggy air of a room with reduced air conditioning.
We often hear people from abroad say that the lighting in Japan is generally too bright.
At night in Tokyo, the whole town glows white. The myriad fluorescent lights in buildings and mercury lamps on streets in the nation's capital produce a dazzling tapestry of lights with a high "color temperature," to use a technical term.
In contrast, night views of cities in Europe and the United States are marked mainly by warm orange lights, like the glow of fire or the setting sun.
Another notable feature of life in Tokyo is excessive lighting in offices and public spaces.
The illumination standards of the Japanese Industrial Standards (JIS) have been raised several times over the years on the grounds that brighter lighting is necessary for ensuring safety and efficiency at workplaces.
The current recommended level of illumination for rooms where office work is done is 750 lux, higher than in many other countries.
In addition, it is generally assumed in Japan that lighting in an office should illuminate brilliantly and equally so that there is no dark area in the entire room.
In 1953, circular fluorescent tubes made their first appearance in Japan.
Since around that time, Japanese have been steadily increasing lighting everywhere under the belief that the level of illumination reflects the level of wealth.
This trend toward more lighting in all places has been supported by a stable supply of electricity.
Will there be significant changes in people's attitude toward lighting following the March 11 disaster?
Kaoru Mende, a lighting designer, says Japanese should take this opportunity to overcome their addiction to excessive lighting and start focusing more on the quality, rather than the quantity, of illumination.
Imposing a uniform reduction in lighting is not a step in the right direction, Mende argues. Rather, he says, efforts should be focused on creating a comfortable lighting environment that can meet the diverse lighting needs of people more efficiently.
If ceiling lighting for an underground passage is dimmed, people will not feel the place is poorly lit as long as the information boards and walls are adequately illuminated.
In supermarkets, lowering the overall lighting level doesn't mar the pleasure of shopping as long as store shelves remain sufficiently illuminated, according to Mende.
In offices, table lamps for individual workers should be combined with lighting for the entire room for the sake of greater efficiency.
Special consideration should be given, however, to lighting for crime prevention and the lighting needs of people with weak eyesight and the elderly.
In a nutshell, efforts for more economic and efficient lighting should be made but in a well thought-out way.
Various new energy-efficient light sources and technologies to control lighting to cut power consumption have emerged in recent years.
And the widespread use of personal computers has dramatically changed the way people work.
It is probably time to reconsider the JIS illumination standards.
Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara has called on the central government to take the step. In recommendations concerning lighting announced in May, the Architectural Institute of Japan said lowering the level of lighting to one notch below the JIS standards is an acceptable way to save electricity.
This new era of reduced power consumption will last at least for a while. Simply regarding the situation as an ordeal that must be put up with is not a very resourceful way to respond to the challenge.
We would be better off if we use our ingenuity to figure out more energy-efficient ways to fulfill our lighting and heating needs in order to adjust our lifestyles to the reality of limited resources.
--The Asahi Shimbun, July 3