Difference between 光景, 風景, 景色, 情景, 景観, 眺め, 見晴らし and 場面

Question

I am aware that there is a similar question with a great answer, however I feel like it could be expanded upon. I don't have enough points to comment, so I decided to post it as a seperate question.

My question is what's the difference between:

光景, 情景, 景色 景観, 眺め, 見晴らし, 場面

I know they all essentially mean view, scenery and/or spectacle, but what are the more nuanced differences?

Also, since 光景, 情景 and 場面 have been explained in the other question, feel free to leave the definitions out; if you feel like they've been explained well enough.

Answer 1

• 場面: scene in the sense of "situation"
• 光景: a memorable scene seen by one's eyes
• 情景: scene in the sense of "vision", something imagined in one's mind
• 景色: wide scenery/landscape (typically of nature)
• 風景: a pleasant, physical sight, not necessarily of nature (though it can be).
• 景観: beautiful landscape (e.g., of a city) maintained by people
• 眺め: scenery/scene seen from a distance (眺める = to see from a distance); outlook
• 見晴らし: wideness/openness/clearness of a view

光景 can refer to any memorable scene/scenery perceived by your eyes. 景色 tends to refer to a wide scenery seen from a distance. 景観 tends to be used in the context of city design, etc.

• あの日部屋で見た光景
  the scene I saw in my room that day
• 富士山の山頂から見た景色
  the scenery seen from the top of Mt. Fuji
• 美しい京都の景観を守れ！
  Protect the beautiful landscape of Kyoto!

眺め and 見晴らし are often interchangeable, too, but 眺め focuses on what you're seeing (from a distance), whereas 見晴らし focuses on how far or how much you can see. For example 良い眺め tends to refer to a beautiful/pleasing view, whereas 良い見晴らし tends to refer to an open/clear view.

Still, the following five phrases mean almost the same thing, "wonderful scenery seen from the observation deck of Tokyo Skytree":

• スカイツリーの展望台から見た素晴らしい光景
• スカイツリーの展望台から見た素晴らしい景色
• スカイツリーの展望台から見た素晴らしい景観
• スカイツリーの展望台から見た素晴らしい眺め
• スカイツリーの展望台からの素晴らしい見晴らし