The Rise of LED Ambient Lights and LED Night Safety Street Lights in Japan

Japan is the birthplace of LED outdoor lighting including LED ambient lights, LED night safety street lights, which help to reduce crime, and other novel lighting fixtures.

Among the developed countries, Japan has a relatively higher aging population, and Japanese government as well as private enterprises pay much attention to the household and public lighting for the elderly and the visually impaired by providing them an indicator lighting system which emits far brighter light than the conventional night safety reflectors on the ground. Others lighting fixtures adopted in Japan include linear LED lights on staircases, and spherical LED street lights for the sidewalk.

The indicator lights on the road surface improves nighttime visibility for pedestrians and drivers, this is particularly beneficial for the elderly and the visually impaired as adequate lighting helps improve their safety by reducing accidents at night.

This is an emerging market as LED light source has been recognized as one of the most power-saving light sources for long-term use, while prices of LED lights have been gradually reduced, making them more cost-effective for long-term use.

LED ambient lights and LED night safety street lights introduced by Panasonic Japan

During the development phase of indicator lights and night safety street lights, LED ambient lights, and LED night safety street lights have also been introduced. With its energy-saving attributes, LED is well-suited for long-term use at night, offering improved security for areas which had no lighting fixtures installed in the past.

The purpose of installing these LED street lights is to help reduce crime and robbery in the alleys and sidewalks, as some psychological reports suggested that street lights inhibits the motivation to commit crime.

In addition to the LED street lights, other LED lighting products such as linear LED lights for the road surface, linear LED lights for building exterior, and linear LED lights that can be installed under water, have gradually been introduced by companies including Panasonic and Iwasaki Electric Co.

LED street lights introduced by Iwatsu Electric

The video below is a demonstration of Iwatsu Electric’s LED street lights and ambient lights:

Insights from LEDinside:

The development of LED ambient light and LED street lighting is a new challenge for the LED lighting industry, one which could not be achieved by conventional lighting. These LED products require the support from government policies – departments including tourism, district security, and other administrative offices, play a key role in the promotion of these products.

For LED ambient light and LED street lights, product lifetime is more crucial than its luminous efficacy. As for the color, white LED lights, and blue LED lights in particular, are said to psychologically inhibit the motivation of committing crime. That said, while white LEDs provide illumination, it is not as bright as the general-purpose LED street lights.

This dual-color LED lighting design, complete with a security camera system, will gradually roll out in the market.