Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako attended a ceremony marking the 30th anniversary of the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake in Kobe on January 17.

The imperial couple have attended such events on several occasions, but this is the first time following Naruhito's accession to the Chrysanthemum throne.

After observing a moment of silence at noon, the emperor gave an address.

S/ Emperor Naruhito / I expect that people will continue to work on building safe and secure living environments while helping each other based on the experiences and lessons learned from the earthquake and that the knowledge gained from these efforts will spread domestically and internationally and be passed on to the next generation.

The emperor and empress offered flowers and bowed in front of a list of victims of the disaster that took the lives of 6,434 people in Kobe and surrounding areas in western Japan.

The memorial ceremony was organized by entities including the Hyogo prefectural government.