Kobe 9th,
Japan 2017-2018

I start my journey in Kobe. As I landed in Kansai International Airport and will go to the south of Japan, Kobe seems a good first stepping stone. And there is much to see in the city. At night I will go to see the Kobe Luminarie.

"Kobe Luminarie (神戸ルミナリエ) is a light festival held in Kobe, Japan, every December since 1995 to commemorate the Great Hanshin earthquake of that year. The lights were donated by the Italian Government and the installation itself is produced by Valerio Festi and Hirokazu Imaoka. Over 200,000 individually hand painted  lights are lit each year with electricity generated from biomass in order to stay environmentally friendly.

Lights are kept up for about two weeks and turned on for a few hours each evening. Major streets in the vicinity are closed to auto traffic during these hours to allow pedestrians to fill the streets and enjoy the lights. It is viewed by about three to five million people each year."

Wikipedia contributors. (2023, January 19). Kobe Luminarie. In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 

It is impressive the level of organization and how fluid everything works, even more impressive taking into account the amounts of people involved in the event.

Before going back to the hotel, I eat a snack at Nankinmachi (南京町) the Chinatown in central Kobe.