• Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer

Tokyo Times

Photographs from a small group of islands

  • Photowalks
  • Portfolio
  • About/Contact
  • Support
  • Follow
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • Instagram
    • RSS

Jun 08 2016 20 Comments

The peacefulness of a blue lit underpass?

Underpasses invariably aren’t the nicest of places, so the unusual decision to use blue lighting may have been to give this one some charm, or possibly a sense of serenity of sorts. But whether it was actually a success or not is somewhat debatable to say the least.

blue lit Japanese underpass

Categorized: Photography

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Taki says

    6/8/2016 at 12:11 pm

    This image conjured a lot of feelings for me. Late night walks home from work, drunken stumbles from a late night hashigo, lonely walks after moving to a new city, etc.

    Great pic.

    Thanks

    Reply
    • Lee says

      6/8/2016 at 3:47 pm

      Thanks! Very happy to hear it brought back some memories.

      Growing up in the north of England, such underpasses were never the best of places to venture down to say the least. Thankfully no such trepidation in Japan. And the blue lighting in this one I really liked. A very welcome surprise.

      Reply
  2. Al says

    6/8/2016 at 5:33 pm

    I love the blue light. It’s a cool idea. But gotta say, I still wouldn’t wanna be there on my own at night………..

    Reply
    • Lee says

      6/8/2016 at 10:38 pm

      It was very cool. A real surprise too.

      I know what you mean though. Interestingly lit or not, they aren’t always the nicest of places.

      Reply
  3. cdilla says

    6/9/2016 at 12:07 am

    A striking photograph. A little of Tron meets Logans Run. Are the bulbs actually blue? If so there must be a supply of them somehwere to keep the intended effect. Blue light is supposed to suppress sleep, though it would have to be pretty gnarly weather to make me want to try kipping in there.
    This underpass looks a lot like a typical UK one (colour excepted) just without the attendant gauntlet of homeless, buskers, beggars, drunks, thugs, addicts and “companions”. I’d still rather risk a dash across a busy road than take the underpass after dark in most cities.

    Reply
    • Lee says

      6/9/2016 at 9:30 am

      Cheers. Yes, blue bulbs. Made for a very striking sight.

      Yeah, thought as much myself. Would have been suitably grim but for the lighting. Apart from in Japan, I’m exactly the same. To be avoided if at all possible.

      Reply
  4. Andy says

    6/9/2016 at 12:23 am

    They use blue lighting in some places in Australia like public toilets to make it difficult for drug users to see their veins. I’m sure that’s done in other parts of the world too but somehow don’t think that is why Japan does it and it does have a cool effect on that underpass. Anyone else seen blue street lights in Japan? I saw them in some places in Aomori prefecture and always wondered why.

    Reply
    • Lee says

      6/9/2016 at 9:33 am

      Interesting. I didn’t know that.

      Like you said, it’s unlikely to be be reason here. But I don’t have another explanation other than that it’s interesting to look at.

      I’ve never seen blue street lighting as I recall, but a lot of stations now have a blue light installed at the end of the platform to stop people jumping.

      Reply
      • cdilla says

        6/10/2016 at 4:57 pm

        I followed this up and found a published paper on the effectiveness in Japanese subway stations. It’s conclusion was “Our regression analysis shows that the introduction of blue lights resulted in a 84% decrease in the number of suicides”. I also discovered that blue lights in New York subway tunnels are emergency phone location indicators.

        Reply
        • Lee says

          6/10/2016 at 8:24 pm

          I presumed the results were at least slightly positive, as they are now fairly common. And obviously even if just one life is saved, then it was worth it. But those are incredible numbers. Amazing how something so simple can be so wonderfully effective.

          Reply
  5. d. minnis says

    6/9/2016 at 12:57 am

    Exactly my kind of arty shot.

    Reply
    • Lee says

      6/9/2016 at 9:34 am

      Very good to hear. Not the kind of shot I usually take, but I was really pleased the way it came out.

      Reply
  6. Freddie says

    6/9/2016 at 8:15 am

    A different kind of blue…

    Beautiful photo.

    I hate to ask, but would you mind spilling the beans on this one and giving me a clue where this was taken?

    Reply
    • Lee says

      6/9/2016 at 9:35 am

      Cheers!

      Not in Tokyo I’m afraid. It was up in Niigata. I was there recently. But if you want an exact location I can dig through my maps and find it.

      Reply
      • Freddie says

        6/11/2016 at 4:45 pm

        No need to dig further, but thanks very much all the same.

        Reply
        • Lee says

          6/12/2016 at 10:38 am

          You are welcome.

          Reply
  7. Squidpuppy says

    6/10/2016 at 2:10 am

    I. Can’t. Stop. Looking. At. It. I just keep staring at all that blue, the forever receding exit, I’m walking, walking, not getting anywhere – but I’m very calm and relaxed. I expect emerging from all that blue – at night, would create a different feeling. Or on a rainy day, or a bug-hot humid one…

    Did the blue obscure some of the grottiness? Seems like.

    Reply
    • Lee says

      6/10/2016 at 7:46 am

      Fascinating, isn’t it? We couldn’t believe our luck when we walked down the steps.

      It did have an oddly calm feeling. But that said, we’d been walking for hours in the sun, and so descending into a cool, blue tunnel was total bliss.

      It wasn’t that grotty to be honest. Of course without the blue it would have looked worse, but it wasn’t in bad shape at all.

      Reply
  8. Hans ter Horst says

    6/10/2016 at 2:10 am

    As we learned that blue light keeps us awake, my hunch is that it is again homeless people taking shelter although the homeless always appear to be camping in those tents made out of blue tarp, so that probably isn’t it either. 🙂
    At least it makes the underpass appear a bit less dank and maybe there were just waiting for you to take that photograph. Love it! 😀

    Reply
    • Lee says

      6/10/2016 at 7:52 am

      The idea of it all being planned for me to turn up one hot, May day and take a photograph is a wonderful one. I like that fantasy — a lot!

      In reality though I honestly don’t know. Where it was up in Niigata, I didn’t see any homeless at all. Certainly didn’t seem like it’s a big problem. Or at least not a problem that warranted such efforts. So maybe just to make it that little bit more welcoming.

      Reply

Leave a Comment Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Footer

Copyright © 2022 · Tokyo Times