Kobe Luminarie (神戸ルミナリエ) is a light festival held in Kobe, Japan, every December since 1995 and commemorating the Great Hanshin earthquake of that year[1]. The lights were donated by the Italian Government and the installation itself is produced by Valerio Festi[2] and Hirokazu Imaoka[3].
Lights are kept up for about two weeks and turned on for a few hours each evening. Each light is individually hand-painted. 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.[4].
Those who want to see more illumination events may be interested in the Osaka Hikari Renaissance, which takes place December 12 - 25 around Nakanoshima in central Osaka. [5]