'Light of hope' flame

January 9, 2023 (Mainichi Japan)

Japanese version

KOBE -- Prior to marking 28 years since the Great Hanshin Earthquake struck the region, a flame-passing ceremony to remember those who perished in the disaster began in this west Japan city on Jan. 8.

The service takes place at the "1.17 Kibo no Akari" (Jan. 17 light of hope) monument, a memorial that was installed in Kobe East Park in the city's Chuo Ward in the year 2000. Around 30 organizations are participating, including citizen groups and students from middle schools and high schools.

Yuma Yasukouchi, 14, a second-year student at Kanki Junior High School in Kakogawa, Hyogo Prefecture, said, "I had heard about it in class, but this was the first time I've seen the names of the disaster's victims inscribed on the plaque at the Earthquake Memorial Monument, and now I truly understood how terrifying the disaster was. I will bring the flame back with me, and I want to share how I felt today."

At the ceremony, candles are used to pass the flame from the memorial's gas light to lanterns brought by participants. The lanterns will then carry the flame to other locations. The monument's flames have been passed to disaster-hit regions, including the sites of the Great East Japan Earthquake and the 2018 western Japan floods.

The flame-passing ceremony continues here until Jan. 17, the anniversary of the day the Great Hanshin Earthquake struck Kobe and the surrounding region in 1995.

(Japanese original by Ai Murata, Kobe Bureau)