The years 2000 through 2010 have been years of light. Years of brightness. Aesthetically, years of Japanese madness. I’m speaking about the culture I’ve immersed myself in specifically, that being the street art scene, hip-hop, rap, street clothing, et al. These cultures have really tied themselves together over the past ten years, and the bow they’ve used to tie tight is extremely wildly colored. The root is above. The streets of Shibuya at night. The madness. The glorious, super-fantastic aesthetic madness.

When I say “madness” I mean at first glance. Of course if you inspect the pictures you see below in the gallery, you’ll notice a precise and calculated assemblage in each of these light-up signs. They’ve got to be! Neon isn’t the cheapest thing in the world, and once one is purchased, it’s expected to last a long time. So not only is the craftwork held in high regard, the design of the sign in the first place has to be spot on and timeless.

The collection you see below is of night lights in Tokyo.

To give you a clear idea of how the West, aka a person like yours truly, these photos have been taken by a close friend of mine: codename Slicerace. These are his photos taken a few months ago (seen here first) while he was working on a special school project for science. Like all scientists, he’s intrigued by the art of organization, and the design of the world.

The places you’ll see in the photos are as thus: Shibuya, Odaiba, Canyoning.

This post is part of the World Famous Design Junkies brightness category.