4 11 KOBE CONTINUED

We also went to a couple of parks.  The most moving, yes a moving park, was dedicated to the losses from the 1995 earthquake.

1.17 Flame of Hope

5.46 am, 17th January 1995

The Great Hanshin Earthquake

This earthquake took many things

Lives, Jobs, Communities, Our Cityscape, Our Memories

These things appear safe, permanent,

even moments before, we cannot know

This earthquake left many things behind,

Kindness, Compassion, Human Bonds, Friendship

This flame links the lives which were taken away,

With our thoughts, the survivors.

by Masami Horiuchi

This poem was at one of the parks.

Another memorial was a statue with a clock.  When the statue fell during the earthquake, the clock was broken.  The statue has been re-erected, but the clock has not been fixed.

It still says 5:46.

Yet another monument.  Under this fountain

we found this

All the victims names were on the walls.  It has all been very moving.

The rest of the city is not so moving.  It is a normal large city.  It is very clean, as we have found in all of Japan. 

We saw several covered streets.

 A normal street 

This little fishie is a desert.  They make it in a waffle like maker shaped like this fish.  This one is filled with chocolate, of course.

Had to include a picture of a karaoke bar.

Seattle is the sister city of Kobe and they gave them this totem pole.  Very strange to see that here.

  

Just tooooo cute to leave out.  By the way, cute in Japanese is Kauaeeee.  Emphasis on the eeee.  If you say it like the Hawaiian island, you are saying the opposite.

    

 

I don’t know when it started raining again, but as we pulled away from the dock and ever since, it has been raining.  We don’t care if it rains when we are inside.  It’s actually quite lovely.

Tonight is a formal night.  We have been invited to dine with the Captain in the fancy restaurant at 8PM.  We were also told that at 8PM we will be entering open water and experiencing 12 foot seas and gale force winds.  So, Arleen will take her seasick pills now, since we missed our last chance to dine with the Captain because she got seasick.