31 Years Since Great Hanshin Earthquake: Kobe People Share Momories of Disaster

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By Takayuki Hamai and Yoshiko Moriya / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writers

11:02 JST, January 17, 2026

KOBE — Jan. 17 marks 31 years since the 1995 Great Hanshin Earthquake struck the Kansai region and 6,434 lives were lost. The city of Kobe has recovered from the devastating earthquake, but memories of that day still linger.

Customers sipped beer and grilled short ribs and offal on a shichirin charcoal stove at Fugetsu, a yakiniku barbeque restaurant near the Shinkaichi shopping arcade in the downtown area of Hyogo Ward, Kobe.

About eight months after the earthquake, the restaurant opened in what was meant to be a temporary prefabricated building. However, it has continued to operate in the building since then.

In February 1995, collapsed buildings and burnt ruins could still be seen everywhere. The restaurant’s owner, Toshimitsu Ko, who is now 60, put up a sheet to act as a roof on the street in front of the damaged restaurant and laid out camping tables and chairs. Customers kept warm with a drum can bonfire. He brought sauce out of his damaged restaurant and grilled short ribs and mino beef tripe on a shichirin grill.

Ko offered meals for ¥500, taking no account of profits. “It’s delicious,” remarked a customer affected by the earthquake. “I’ve wanted to eat something like this.”

At first, he did not know where to start after the quake. About 10 years after he took over the restaurant from his parents, the earthquake occurred and the second floor of the restaurant was destroyed. After moving from shelter to shelter and from one acquaintance to another, Ko finally took the first step toward recovery as his family said to him, “At any rate, we have to move on and do business.”

Ko built a prefabricated restaurant on the site of the demolished restaurant and reopened in September 1995. Everyone in the city suffered from some form of struggle, saying such things as “Have you been all right?” and “Now I have two housing loans.”

A few years later, he converted his restaurant to a standing bar, and in 2024, converted it back to a barbecue restaurant. Ko had wanted to rebuild his restaurant eventually, but he has come this far without being able to afford it.

At one time, his family of five — Ko, his wife, Etsuko, and their three children — lived on the second floor of the prefab building. “Even a light rainfall sounded like heavy rain. In winter, it was as cold inside as it was outside and I could see my breath,” Etsuko said.

They have been working on the prefab building, adding such things as insulation to the walls and rearranging the interior. Although the building shows some visible damage, Ko said with determination, “This restaurant is everything I and my wife have.”

He keeps an album of photos from when he made a fresh start at his restaurant so that customers can look at it anytime. The feelings he had on the day he vowed to make a comeback remain unchanged today.

Fresh start for ‘5:46 a.m.’

Beer glasses filled with amber-colored beer are brought to customers. They feature a clock tower with its hands pointing to 5:46, the time when the Great Hanshin Earthquake occurred in the early morning of Jan. 17, 1995.

At that time, the beer restaurant “New Munchen Kobe Taishikan” was located in a four-story building featuring its symbolic clock tower in Chuo Ward, Kobe. The building collapsed into a neighboring building due to the violent quake.

The company running the restaurant rebuilt the building into an eight-story one with a clock tower in the same location. The restaurant reopened in December 1996. Since then, the eatery has been serving its originally brewed beer in the 5:46 glasses with the determination to make a fresh start. The floor at the entrance and partition boards also feature a clock showing the same time.

Takuro Domoto, 46, the restaurant manager, experienced the earthquake in Higashinada Ward, Kobe. Many customers do not notice the clock details. However, Domoto once saw a grandfather explaining the earthquake to his grandchild who asked about the clock. “I feel glad that this helps people pass the memories on to the next generations,” he said.