The Tokyo Metropolitan Government on Monday kicked off a campaign to encourage residents to replace their incandescent lightbulbs with energy-efficient LED lighting for free.
Later the same day, Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike held a launch ceremony at City Hall with comedian Pikotaro to explain the procedure for exchanging the bulbs.
The campaign allows residents 18 or older to bring two or more incandescent lamps to any of the roughly 800 electronics stores in Tokyo to be exchanged for one free light-emitting diode bulb.
Koike urged residents to check their homes to see if they are still using incandescent lamps.
"I will change the lightbulbs in my home" to LEDs, Pikotaro said.
In May, the metro government posted a video on YouTube in which Koike and Pikotaro, creator of the silly ditty "Pen-Pineapple-Apple-Pen," did a song and dance number to promote the exchange campaign. The video has been viewed 190,000 times.
According to the metropolitan government, households account for about 30 percent of all energy consumption in Tokyo, but about 40 percent of them haven't yet made the shift to LED bulbs.
