Event Info

GINZA ILLUMINATION 2017

The street light illumination display has been expanded!

Ginza Street Association, Ginza International Luxury Committee (GILC) and Ginza Association will be holding Ginza’s full-scale illumination titled Ginza Illumination that has become a very popular year-end and new-year tradition since its start in 2011. It will be open for a period of 45 days from Saturday, November 25, 2017 to Monday (holiday), January 8, 2018, at 1-chome to 8-chome on Ginza-dori (Chuo-dori), and on Harumi-dori from the Sukiyabashi intersection to the Ginza 4-chome intersection area.

This year 60 street lights will be decorated, about double the number decorated last year. ‘Flower Baskets of Light’ will dazzle the streets of Ginza!

For this year that is the seventh year, ‘Flower Baskets of Light’ designed once again by Pitaya, a creation studio from France, will be strung from the street lights to create an illumination display and envelop the streets of Ginza in an experience that is brimming with artistic taste. The number of street lights being decorated this year has been doubled from last year, with 46 on Ginza Chuo-dori and 14 on Harumi-dori, for a total of 60 street lights. This is the first year that the decorations will be strung from street lights on Harumi-dori (last year, there were 32 street lights decorated on only Ginza Chuo-dori).
The decorations will be lit up from 3 p.m. until midnight (from 4:30 p.m. on the first day). The Flower Baskets of Light will keep the streets bathed in a warm-toned white shimmer while reflecting the neon street signs and the sunlight as twilight approaches.
Decorating both Ginza Chuo-dori and Harumi-dori in the same light-up installation creates a sense of continuity and unity in the streetscape and lets visitors experience the streets of Ginza enveloped in a magical and elegant aura.
Similar to previous years, Hikarimichi Charity Donation Boxes to support recovery in Tohoku will again be set up at GILC brand shops and other commercial establishments that agree with the goal of this project. Donations will be given to the National Federation of UNESCO Associations in Japan.

Event details

Ginza Illumination 2017 Hikarimichi – Flowers that brighten the future

When: Saturday, November 25, 2017 to Monday, January 8, 2018 (national holiday) 3 p.m. to midnight (Note: Starts at 4:30 p.m. on November 25)
Location: Ginza Chuo-dori 1-chome to 8-chome and Harumi-dori from the Sukiyabashi intersection to the Ginza 4-chome intersection

Light-up art installation by French artists!

The Flower Baskets of Light strung from 60 street lights along the streets were created by the globally active French creation studio, Pitaya.
They are one meter in diameter. Holographic material is used to reflect the varied colors in sunlight and create a continuous glittering shimmer in the daytime as well, and the streets glow from a warm-toned white light overhead at night.

Artist Profile

Pitaya

A creative studio of two French artists—David Lesort and Arnaud Giroud. In a wide variety of fields, they roll out styles rich in sense of playfulness and poetic sentiment, producing works that take environmental issues into consideration by designing to reduce energy consumption of materials and transport, in addition to the energy emitted by the light.
Based in Lyon, the city of lights, they actively participate in global art festivals of light as they expand their sphere of activity.
Their past illumination projects in Japan includes the Sakagura-dori Festin de Lumiere (2012 to 2015) in Nishinomiya city. This will be their second in the Kanto region.

Producer Profile

Maia Maniglier

Design Concierge/Representative Director, Exprime Inc.
A Parisienne now in her 29th year in Japan. Utilizing her network and experience cultivated in France, a country advanced in artworks of light, she has served on the promotion strategy department committee of the Osaka Lighting Project, exerting herself in urban development using lights and widening her circle. Her past works include coordinator of France de Lumiere of Osaka Hikari-Renaissance supported by the French ambassador
(2009 to 2010), project conceptor of France-Japan Interchange of Light hosted by the city of Osaka (2008 to 2010), producer of Festin de Lumiere in Nishinomiya city (2012 to 2015), and more.

About the Hikarimichi Charity Donation Boxes to support recovery in Tohoku

Ginza Illumination was launched in 2011 with wishes for recovery in Tohoku and with the goal of providing support. Every year during the illumination period, Hikarimichi Charity Donation Boxes to support recovery in Tohoku are set up at GILC brand shops and other commercial establishments that agree with the goal of this project, and the money collected are donated as funds to support children affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake through the National Federation of UNESCO Associations in Japan.

Event Outline

Organizers: Ginza Street Association, GILC, Ginza Association
Sponsors: Taisei Corp., Ginza Six,
　　　 Kirarito Ginza, Sapporo Holdings, Shiseido Co., Diners Club (Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Club Co.),
　　　 Daiwa Securities Ginza Branch, Takenaka Corporation, Hulic Co., Matsuya Co., Mizuho Bank, Mitsui Fudosan Co.,
　　　 Isetan Mitsukoshi Holdings, Uniqlo Co., Ricoh Co.,
　　　 Wako Co.
Media partners: Asahi Shimbun Co.
Auspices: Chuo Ward
Partners: National Federation of UNESCO Associations in Japan
Official website: Ginza Official (https://www.ginza.jp/)

What is
the Ginza International Luxury Committee (GILC)?

In 2002, seven international luxury brand companies with shops on Ginza-dori or Harumi-dori joined together to establish the Ginza International Luxury Committee (GILC) with the aim of revitalizing Ginza and raising its profile. GILC is a committee of the Ginza Street Association, and currently counts 24 companies as its members.
As one part of Ginza, a district that represents Japan, GILC’s goal is to teach the rest of the world about Ginza as a highly international place with a strong cultural presence. It will continue to hold various activities, with the annual Ginza Illumination as its main project.