Japan - Kobe
After a few wonderful days in Nara we took another bullet train to Kobe the fifth largest city in Japan and a beautiful cosmopolitan port city.
For thousands of years the seaport at Kobe has been a major epicenter, regulating trade between Japan and China, Okinawa, and several other countries. Like Nara, Kobe at one point over 8 centuries ago was also the capital of Japan.
On Jan 17, 1995 a devastating 7.2 magnitude earthquake hit Kobe, killing over 6,000 people and injuring tens of thousands more. Despite having lost over 100,000 homes and suffering structural road damage that made relief efforts nearly impossible, Kobe has revitalized itself. Visitors who aren’t familiar with the area would never guess that such a devastating event had occurred only a little over 10 years prior.
Kobe earthquake 1995
My family spent 4 years living in Kobe (1982-1986) and have many fond memories from our time there. After the earthquake we learned that our old home in Kobe had been destroyed and that our landlord had been trapped under the house for several days before being rescued. Though we knew that the old house would no longer be there, we still wanted to walk through the neighborhood to take a look.
This apartment building now stands where our old house in Kobe used to be.
Me on the same street (28 years earlier) as the picture above.
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Japan
Was that 2nd picture approved before being published????
Superb overview of Kobe