STREET LIGHT AND VISIBLE LIGHT COMMUNICATION SYSTEM WITH THE SAME

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a street light capable of suppressing electric power loss when implementing visible light communication by using a switching section and to provide a visible light communication system with the same.SOLUTION: A street light includes: a light emitting section 10 irradiating visible light and driven by a power supply section 12; a coding section 14 generating communication information to implement visible light communication; a switching section 13 that is interposed between the power supply section 12 and the light emitting section 10 and on-off controlled according to the communication information from the coding section 14; a bypass section 15 provided in parallel to the switching section 13 between the power supply section 12 and the light emitting section 10; and a communication control section controlling the switching section 13 and the bypass section 15. The communication control section controls the bypass section 15 so as to become inactive when the switching section is on-off controlled according to the communication information and to become active when the switching section is not on-off controlled according to the communication information, and supplies electric power to the light emitting section 10 via the bypass section 15.