Kobe Luminarie

　　I went to Kobe City by car on Sunday, taking a half day off on the next day. My wife and I have long wanted to see Kobe City's seasonal event of Kobe Luminarie. At the same time, I had to talk with my friends, who were in Kobe, over the next ski tour to Canada. FYI, "luminarie" is originally Italian word.
　　Firstly I'll write about the origin of the Luminarie. Do you remember the immense disaster of the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake, which broke out in the area which centered on Kobe City, in 1995. It started in December in 1995 for the repose of victim's souls and a commemoration of the departed. It was also tasked to recall sightseers to the devastated former tourist destination of Kobe City. Look at the first picture. It says in Japanese, "The Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake Memorial" and "1995. 1. 17 MEMORIAL" though the reflection of the lights interferes with reading it. While some people think that the memory of the unprecedented disaster should not be forgotten, others think they don't want to recall the agonizing happenings. That is to say, some people feel pained to remember the day of the earthquake seeing the beautiful scene of the Luminarie. I sympathetically understand both opinions.
　　After visiting Minatogawa Shrine, which I wrote about in the last entry, we got together with our friends at Kobe station. They live in Kobe and guided us to the best position to enjoy the Kobe Luminarie. Then, we moved to a historic Korean restaurant. Their selection of the restaurant was great and we enjoyed chatting. As for the ski tour to Whistler next spring, we decided to give up. Our schedules are fully different and first of all our family members don't want us to go overseas due to the prevalence of terror attacks. Canada isn't the target of ISIS at present, but they didn't look happy about our plan.
　　While terror attacks are sure to disappear someday, Whistler is always waiting for us. I made up my mind to believe so.

(Vocabulary)
Luminarie (イタリア語 luminarie) 《luminariaの複数形》イルミネーション。電飾。
repose (文) 休息