Memorials to Great Hanshin Earthquake Victims in Kobe Cleaned Ahead of 31st Anniversary; 20 Volunteers Carefully Wipe Down Name Plates to Prepare for Upcoming Ceremony

The Yomiuri Shimbun

7:00 JST, January 13, 2026

KOBE — With the 31st anniversary of the Jan. 17, 1995, Great Hanshin earthquake approaching, volunteers cleaned the Memorial and Reconstruction Monument in Kobe East Park on Sunday.

About 20 people, including bereaved family members and students who worked as staff members at a memorial ceremony for the anniversary this coming Saturday, used cloths to carefully wipe down memorial items in the park, including plates in an underground chamber engraved with the names of the victims and a glass case covering the “1.17 light of hope,” a flame kindled with fires brought from municipalities hit by the quake as well as from the 47 prefectures of Japan.

“I looked at each plate bearing each person’s name, which was a fresh reminder to me about the preciousness of life,” said a 23-year-old graduate student from Ibaraki, Osaka Prefecture, who helped clean the nameplates.