The house is over 20 years old, and the entry’s ceiling fixture had been bugging me for ages — the design felt very Showa-era. I replaced it with a clean, flush-mount ceiling downlight.
The white ceiling itself had also gone dingy, so I gave that a fresh coat of white paint too.
The new fixture was about 3,000 yen, and the ceiling was rolled white with a paint roller.
To be upfront: swapping a hard-wired ceiling light is a fairly high-bar DIY (license required in Japan — see below). But just repainting the ceiling on its own makes a huge difference to how the space feels, so even if you skip the wiring part this might be worth a read.
Heads-up: electrical license requirement (Japan)
This DIY involves touching the live wiring of a ceiling fixture, which is electrical work. In Japan, you need a Class 2 Electrician’s License (第二種電気工事士) to do it legally.
“It’s my house, surely I can do what I like in it?” — that was my first reaction, but apparently Japan’s Electrician Law (電気工事士法) regulates it regardless of whose house it is.
Grumbling about my own house all the way, I went and got the license:
I got the Class 2 Electrician’s License (self-study)
Before and after
・Before
House is 20+ years old, and the fixture really shows it.
The white ceiling has also gone gray-ish, so it’s getting a repaint too.
・After
New fixture installed and ceiling repainted. Going to a recessed/flush-mount downlight cleans up the look a lot.
The fresh white paint also brightens the whole entry.
Here’s how it went.
Removing the old fixture
First, kill power at the breaker. Non-negotiable — this is how you avoid a shock.
Time to remove the old fixture.
I undid the trim screws and the screws holding it to the ceiling.
The white and black wires in the next photo are the supply wires coming down from the ceiling (the ones the arrow is pointing at).
Hm? Something’s off here.
Convention for this kind of supply: black is “hot” (the live, voltage-carrying wire) and white is the “neutral” (0 V side, grounded).
But on the fixture side, the terminal in the blue circle in the next photo is marked “N” — i.e. the neutral terminal. The white wire should be in there, but it’s the black wire that’s plugged in instead…
It’s been working fine all this time, but it’s a bit unsettling.
Old fixture disconnected from the supply.
Prepping for the new fixture (cutting the hole)
The new fixture is a flush-mount ceiling downlight — Odelic OD 261 736.
Odelic Ceiling Downlight [OD261736R] [OD 261 736R]
Per the manual, the ceiling needs a 125 mm-diameter hole. The plan: drill a ring of small holes around the perimeter with a power drill, then connect the dots with a hand saw.
I climbed up on the stepladder, looked up at the ceiling, started drilling — and immediately got a face full of debris. Couldn’t keep my eyes open.
Solution: drill through a plastic bag — debris stays in the bag instead of in your eyes.
Got my ring of perimeter holes.
Then I cut between the holes with a hand saw to free the disc.
The cut edge is rough, but it’s all hidden under the trim of the new fixture, so this is fine.
HiKOKI (formerly Hitachi Koki) Cordless Drill/Driver FDS12DAL(2ES)
Next page: ceiling repaint and installing the new fixture.
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