Kobe's annual illumination festival started in December, 1995 as a memorial to the loss suffered in the Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake on January 17th of the same year. It was a bright message of hope called "Dreams and Light" that over two and a half million people came to see when they turned on the lights south of Kobe City Hall. Following the success of the first festival, it has been held every year since to celebrate Kobe City's recovery from the disaster.

Today, around 3.5 million people come to view the illumination displays in late December. Each year since 1995, Valerio Festi and a local Kobe company team up to design and light up the night with thousands of lights. The basic format has remained mostly the same with the entrance gates, the main plaza in the park south of Kobe City Hall and a number of displays next to Flower Road.

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