What's New in Lighting Technology & Design【Tsutomu Ochiai】
Lighting Fair 2005 Review--Part 1: LED Lights
Aug 12, 2005
Tsutomu Ochiai, lighting designer (M&O Design Office)
1 Introduction
The latest trends in the Japanese lighting market were exhibited at the Tokyo International Exhibition Center (or Tokyo Big Sight) in early March under intense attention from stakeholders from all over the world. It was the 7th international lighting exhibition called Lighting Fair 2005, which was held from 1st to 4th March. What was presented there was quite interesting, with some notable developments from the last time. I will report on the exhibition in three installments. This first installment will cover the exhibition in general and the LEDs (Light Emitting Diodes {=semiconductors}), which have received much attention from the world's lighting and other industries lately.
1 Tokyo Big Sight / 2 A scene from the Lighting Fair
3 Entrance to the Lighting Fair in the East Exhibition Building
4 Sign board in the passageway, on which other concurrent events were also indicated
Japan is located at the Eastern end of the Eurasian (European + Asian) Continent, and it is an archipelago consisting of four major islands and a number of smaller islands spread North-South, on the rim of the Pacific Ocean. It is endowed with a generally moderate climate and attractive landscapes with beautiful sceneries of the four seasons. Japan's capital city, Tokyo, a mega city with a population of 12 million, is a place of origin of the latest modes of the day, competing in this regard with Paris and New York. The history of the city of Tokyo goes back a long time, with its days of glory starting in the year 1603 when Ieyasu Tokugawa established the Tokugawa Shogunate and designated it as the capital city of the nation. Back in those days, the city was called Edo, and it was already a mega city with a population over one million by the 18th century. Tokyo is located roughly at the geographical center of the Japanese archipelago, and it is also the center of the nation's politics, economy, and culture.
The topology of Tokyo is as follows: It is located in the Southern part of the Kanto Region, and surrounded by Chiba Prefecture beyond the Edo River to the east, Yamanashi Prefecture beyond the mountain range of Chichibu to the west, Kanagawa Prefecture beyond the Tama River to the south, and Saitama Prefecture to the north. The Southeastern part of Tokyo faces the Tokyo Bay, which opens to the Pacific Ocean, and the bay has been reclaimed since the Edo Era. Tokyo International Exhibition Center "Tokyo Big Sight" is located in one section of the reclaimed land that was redeveloped as the Waterfront Area facing the Tokyo Bay, based on the "Waterfront Subcenter Development Project" announced in the late 1980s. In the vicinity are popular spots such as the Kaihin Park, amusement parks, and large-scale shopping centers, and many families and youth visit the area throughout the year.
2 Lighting Fair at Tokyo Big Sight
Boasting a breathtaking waterfront view, Tokyo Big Sight occupies a total area of 243,000m2 and consists of the East and West Exhibition Buildings (the three-story East Building and the five-story West Building connected by the passageways) and the Conference Tower at the center. The Lighting Fair was held in Hall 6 of the East Building, with 100 domestic and overseas lighting makers, etc. exhibiting their products and ideas. The other events held concurrently included the country's largest general shop-related exhibition, JAPAN SHOP, and ARCHITECTURE + CONSTRUCTION MATERIALS 2005, representing the biggest trade fair that stakeholders involved in construction and commercial facility industries could not miss.
The access to the venue is fairly convenient, with the rail, bus, and new transport systems including Yurikamome and sea bus all providing comfortable means of public transport. There are limousine bus services from the Narita Airport (for international flights) and the Haneda Airport (for domestic flights) to transport visitors from far-away locations. This certainly is one of the reasons why the Fair successfully attracted a large number of visitors.
During the Lighting Fair period, seminars on the latest lighting trends were offered as well. The seminar themes were Lighting Facilities upgrade on the opening day, and Latest Trends of White LED Lighting and Trends of Organic EL Lighting on the next day. Organic EL lights, in particular, have been under intense focus as flat light sources lately, and they are becoming known as the "organic LEDs" in Europe and North America. In the same way as in the LED segment, Japan is the world's top runner in building up the technologies to enable mass production of organic EL lights, examples of which were reported during the said seminars. The application models of organic EL lights were exhibited in Hall 6 of the East Exhibition Building and were receiving much attention from the visitors.
5 Mr. Mitsuru Saito lectures on lighting renewal
6 Mr. Yoichi Kawakami lectures on white LEDs
7 Mr. Junji Kido lectures on organic EL lights
At the center of the hall was the Theme Exhibit Corner, which was a sort of a landmark, where four examples were presented to explain in a easy-to-understand manner the point that lighting equipment in use for more than ten years deteriorates from inside and needs to be renewed (replaced) for safety and energy efficiency.
Beyond the Theme Exhibit Corner were the large booths of Matsushita Electric Works, Ltd./Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. and Toshiba Lighting & Technology Corp., and both exhibitors displayed a number of new products. The key words of their new products are "energy-saving" and "environmentally friendly," and it was evident that the two had focused their efforts in that regard on their LED products and the presentation thereof. Fluorescent lamps and their mounting fixtures are widely disseminated in the world as energy-saving light sources, and the new products in this category designed for specific purposes were also on the display.
Exhibitors from overseas occupied the Overseas Lighting Area set up on the right side of the entrance to the hall. Their exhibits covering a wide range of products from electronic components to decoratively finished products produced the atmosphere of an international lighting fair.
8 Theme Exhibit Corner: Visitors listened to the presentation on the four lighting renewal case studies of office, residential, shop, and outdoor lighting arrangements.
9 A scene from the central isle of the Lighting Fair
10 An example of an overseas exhibitor booth (a Taiwanese business)
11 Organic EL equipment prototypes that attracted the attention of many visitors (Matsushita Electric Works)
12 NIPPO Electric's booth was popular thanks to its presentation of effective use of fluorescent lamp for shop space
