KOBE—Nighttime sightseers are admiring this city's winter illuminations this year, an annual tradition dating from 1995, the year Kobe was recovering from a devastating earthquake.
KOBE—Nighttime sightseers are admiring this city's winter illuminations this year, an annual tradition dating from 1995, the year Kobe was recovering from a devastating earthquake.
Three and a half million visitors are expected to visit the Kobe Luminarie this year during its 12-day run. It comprises 200,000 lights imported from Italy arranged as a corridor of soaring, glittering archways.
The lighting-up ceremony took place on Dec. 6, when visitors offered a silent prayer for the victims of the Jan. 17, 1995, quake, which is known in Japan as the Great Hanshin Earthquake. They also prayed for the victims of the devastating tremor and tsunami that hit northeastern Japan on March 11, 2011, the Great East Japan Earthquake.
At 6 p.m., a bell rang and the visitors broke into cheers as the darkness dissolved in a dazzling blaze of light.
The theme this year is "Bonds of Light."
"The lights connect the present with the time of the earthquake," said Hirokazu Imaoka, the event's 51-year-old artistic director.
"I hope the light illuminating the darkness will reach out to eastern Japan," he said, referring to the region affected by the 2011 quake and tsunami.
A special section symbolizes bonds linking victims in both locations. Titled the "zone of ties and exchanges," it comprises lines of lanterns decorated with 358 paintings by children from Kobe and Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture.
The 18th Kobe Luminarie is located in a neighborhood that was formerly a foreign settlement during the Meiji Era (1868-1912).
It can be seen until Dec. 17. Open hours are from Monday to Thursday from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.; Friday from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m.; Saturday from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m.; and Sunday from 5 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.