Kobe Earthquake Memorial Events

Tomorrow, January 17th, marks the 16 years since the Great Hanshin Earthquake, aka the Kobe Earthquake. It happened at 5:46 JST and lasted for approximately 20 seconds. when it was finished, most of Kobe was left in ruins and nearly 6,500 died.

Today at Minato no Mori Park in downtown Kobe, there were various events set up to commemorate the tragedy. There were hip hop dancers, trick cyclists, inline skating and many other things. Unfortunately, it was the coldest day of the Winter so far and I think that kept many people away. I checked things out with my family. It was pretty cold so we only stuck around for a brief time.

Here are two short videos I took today at the park:





Minato no Mori Park is a new park. It just opened in 2010 and is located a stones throw from Sannomiya in downtown Kobe. it is about a five minute walk South from Boeki Center Port Liner Station. It has a wonderful 460m cushioned running/walking track as well as a large lawn. On nice weekends you can find people playing ultimate frisbee, rugby, soccer, or simply having picnics without heir families.

The park has a large lawn, running track, skatepark, inline skating facilities and rink, dance practice area, basketball courts and a nursery where they grow flowers and plants for the park.

Check out some pictures I took of the park a few months ago:




A 460m running/walking track is a wonderful thing for me since I am a runner.




Often kids and adults can be found here on the weekends playing inline hockey.


This is the skatepark.