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July 09, 2025
 

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GREAT HANSHIN EARTHQUAKE

Though Haruki Murakami's trademark whiff of offbeat existentialism is threaded throughout NHK's "After the Quake," the final episode — conceived as a sequel to the story "Super-Frog Saves Tokyo" — is the most stylized, featuring an anthropomorphic talking frog (voiced by Non) and his erstwhile associate Katagiri (Koichi Sato).
CULTURE / TV & Streaming
Apr 3, 2025
Haruki Murakami TV adaptation revisits 30 years of watershed moments
NHK's new four-episode miniseries, “After the Quake,” probes the ripple effects of past major disasters across Japanese society.
Katsumi Murakami, a Lawson convenience store owner in Kobe, talks about his experience in the 1995 earthquake and how convenience stores can serve a lifeline in times of disaster.
JAPAN
Jan 28, 2025
Convenience stores' importance grew after Kobe earthquake, one owner says
The owner recalled handing out food from his Lawson convenience store following the 1995 earthquake and ensuring it was open for business three months later.
Yoshiteru Murosaki, professor emeritus of disaster prevention planning at Kobe University, says poor environments at evacuation centers following disasters remain a concern.
JAPAN
Jan 21, 2025
Expert calls for more discussions on earthquake preparedness
The expert mentioned poor environments at evacuation centers as one of the problems persisting since the Great Hanshin Earthquake of 1995.
Children pray for the victims of the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake during an early morning ceremony to mark the 30th anniversary of the quake, in Kobe on Friday.
JAPAN / Society
Jan 17, 2025
30th anniversary of Hanshin quake marked with desire to pass on lessons
Hyogo Prefecture is also calling on the central government to pick Kansai as the base of a new disaster relief agency currently in the works.
Sunflowers grow in an empty plot of land in 1995 in Kobe where a home once stood before being destroyed by the Great Hanshin Earthquake.
JAPAN
Jan 17, 2025
30 years after the Kobe earthquake, sunflowers serve as a ray of hope
The sunflowers that grew in an empty plot of land in Kobe became the topic of picture books and textbooks.
Roxana Oshiro and her husband gather their belongings in front of their house in Furukawacho, in Kobe's Suma Ward, after the Great Hanshin Earthquake in 1995.
JAPAN / Society / FOCUS
Jan 17, 2025
The efforts to bridge the disaster information gap, 30 years on
Disaster information didn't reach many non-Japanese speakers after the Great Hanshin Earthquake struck. Thirty years later, has the situation improved?
Mitsuaki Gatayama (right) poses for a picture with his wife, Miyuki, and their children, Kaede and Yo, in Amagasaki, Hyogo Prefecture, last week.
JAPAN / Society
Jan 16, 2025
Man born on day of Kobe quake strives to brighten lives
Thirty years later, Mitsuaki Gatayama still carries the hope of his parents in his name, in his heart and his career.
Self-Defense Forces members search for victims in Kobe's Nagata Ward on Jan. 28, 1995, in the wake of the Great Hanshin Earthquake.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 16, 2025
Hanshin quake sparked changes to Japan's disaster response policies
Having outlined the Self-Defense Forces' active role and support for victims, the government now aims to set up a new central agency for disaster relief.
Kinki Taxi President Kiyoto Morisaki in Kobe on Dec. 16
JAPAN
Jan 15, 2025
Disaster area tour helping Kobe revival 30 years after 1995 quake
The tour program began in around 2000, and over 100 schools have taken part so far.
Staff Sgt. Akihiro Yamamoto reflects on the Great Hanshin Earthquake while looking at materials at the Ground Self-Defense Force's Itami base in city of Itami, Hyogo Prefecture in December.
JAPAN / Society
Jan 14, 2025
How the SDF has earned trust through disaster relief efforts
Public sentiment toward the SDF was markedly colder during the Great Hanshin Earthquake, service personnel recall.
Participants observe a minute of silence for the victims of the Jan. 17, 1995, earthquake during an event for the the Coming-of-Age Day in Kobe on Monday.
JAPAN
Jan 14, 2025
20-year-olds celebrated in Kobe 30 years after earthquake
A minute of silence was observed for the victims of the Jan. 17, 1995, earthquake.
Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako speak with winners of the Praemium Imperiale at the Imperial Palace on Nov. 20. The imperial couple will attend a memorial ceremony to mark the 30th anniversary of the 1995 Great Hanshin Earthquake in January.
JAPAN
Dec 16, 2024
Emperor and empress to attend Hanshin Quake Memorial on anniversary
The imperial couple will be briefed by Hyogo Gov. Motohiko Saito on the reconstruction situation and visit the Hyogo Prefectural Hyogo-no-Tsu Museum.
Rescue workers look for missing people in collapsed houses in the aftermath of the earthquake that struck Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture, and the surrounding areas on Jan. 1.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 30, 2024
No one left behind: Japan needs to work on its multicultural disaster response
The Noto earthquake has put into relief, once again, the need to cater disaster responses and preparedness to everyone, including foreigners.
Takayasu Nikaido talks about the January 1995 earthquake that hit the Kobe area while showing videos he took in the aftermath of the quake.
JAPAN
Jan 15, 2024
Efforts underway to digitize videotapes of 1995 Kobe quake
Japanese manufacturers ended production of videotape players by 2016, and videotapes are said to have a lifespan of about 30 years
A schoolgirl wears a padded hood for protection from falling debris during an earthquake simulation exercise at an elementary school in Tokyo. The government estimates a 70% chance of a magnitude 7 event striking directly underneath the capital in the next 30 years.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Sep 4, 2023
Tokyo has lived on the brink of the ‘Big One’ — for a century
The Great Kanto Earthquake demolished the nascent Japanese capital, killing more than 100,000 people — some 3% of the city’s population at the time.
Japan Times
WORLD
Jun 23, 2021
An earthquake in Kobe speaks to a sea wall in San Francisco
Researchers worldwide view Kobe as an example of a modern city where, in 1995, structures failed to perform the way engineers thought they would.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Regional voices: Chubu
Feb 10, 2020
Aichi students send Hanshin quake-linked sunflowers to disaster-hit areas
Sunflowers that students in Aichi Prefecture cultivated from seeds originally grown at the home of a 1995 Great Hanshin Earthquake victim were displayed during a memorial ceremony on Jan. 17, marking the 25th anniversary of the disaster.
Japan Times
JAPAN / History / JAPAN TIMES GONE BY
Feb 1, 2020
Japan Times 1970: NHK broadcasts first sex education show
The Japan Broadcasting Corp. (NHK) was deluged with phone calls from mothers Monday morning after it presented a 45-minute television program on sex education, the first of its kind ever shown on the public broadcasting station's channel.
JAPAN
Jan 24, 2020
Special course on disaster prevention spurs Kobe survivor's mission to teach others
Early on the morning of Jan. 17, 1995, Kurumi Kishimoto was awakened abruptly by "earth-rumbling sounds" like something she had never experienced. Her family's seventh-floor apartment in Kobe's Hyogo Ward was shaken violently, with dishes falling from the shelves. As dawn was breaking, Kishimoto was...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Regional voices: Chubu
Jan 24, 2020
Shaken by Kobe quake, Peruvian works to help Hyogo's Spanish speakers in times of disaster
Roxana Oshiro, a Peruvian of Japanese descent, came to Japan in 1991 and was living in a dormitory in Kobe with her husband and child when the Great Hanshin Earthquake hit the region in 1995.
Foreign nationals' presence in Japan emerges as key issue in Upper House poll
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba delivers a campaign speech next to a Liberal Democratic Party candidate for the Upper House (top center left) in Yokohama on Sunday.
Trump announces new tariff rate on Japan — and extension of deadline to Aug. 1
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt holds a trade letter sent by the White House to Japan during a news conference at the White House in Washington on Monday.
China’s housing crisis is worse than it seems
Residential buildings under construction in Shanghai in July 2022. The Chinese government risks long-term decline by repeating Japan’s policy mistakes in handling its real estate and demographic crises.
Japan braces for more quakes as authorities dismiss doomsday hype
Evacuees from Akuseki Island, located in the Tokara island chain in Kagoshima Prefecuture, arrive at Kagoshima Port on Friday.
Japan stands its ground after Trump letter delivers 25% U.S. tariff shock
U.S. President Donald Trump (left) and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick at Morristown Airport, New Jersey, on Sunday. Trump on Monday sent letters to 12 countries notifying them of new "reciprocal" tariff rates effective Aug. 1.
Foreign nationals' presence in Japan emerges as key issue in Upper House poll
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba delivers a campaign speech next to a Liberal Democratic Party candidate for the Upper House (top center left) in Yokohama on Sunday.
Lawson to let visitors use larger parking lots as paid car campsites
A Lawson convenience store in Yachiyo, Chiba Prefecture. A new service from the company comes amid the rise in inbound tourists, making hotels and inns harder to book and more expensive.
The future is bright inside the visionary mind of architect Sou Fujimoto
The exhibition of Fujimoto’s architecture surveys his career to date, as well as looks ahead as shown in his proposal of a future floating city designed in collaboration with data scientist Hiroaki Miyata.
A tiny mountain hamlet keeps traditional log rafting afloat
Once a way to transport lumber from the mountains to the coast, log rafting is now Kitayama's biggest attraction.
A furever friend: Tips for responsible dog ownership in Japan
Dog ownership may seem daunting in Japan, but with the right tools and logistical knowledge, you can ensure a healthy, happy life for your pet.

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