Light of Hope Gas Lamp Lit in Wajima as Noto Earthquake, Flood Survivors Mourn Victims

The Yomiuri Shimbun

21:00 JST, February 2, 2026

WAJIMA, Ishikawa — A gas lamp called the Light of Hope was installed in the Machino district of Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture — an area that suffered extensive damage in the 2024 Noto Peninsula Earthquake and subsequent torrential rains — and was lit on Sunday in remembrance of those who died.

The flame used to ignite it was shared from the “1.17 Light of Hope,” a memorial gas lamp in Kobe that has been kept burning to honor victims of the Great Hanshin Earthquake. The Kobe memorial began on Jan. 17, 2000 — five years after the disaster — when survivors brought together separate flames and combined them into one. Since then, the flame has been shared with 10 locations, including communities affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake. This is the first time a memorial gas lamp has been installed in the Noto area.

On Sunday, when the gas lamp was lit near the sightseeing spot known as “Madoiwa,” or window rock, about 100 local residents greeted the moment with loud applause.

Shin Nakayama, 29, whose older sister Miki Nakayama died in the heavy rains at 31, said he hoped the flame would “continue to burn as a light of remembrance for my sister and so many others — and as a guidepost on the road to recovery.”