Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako flew from Haneda Airport on the morning of January 16 to attend the Memorial Ceremony for the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake.

The Imperial couple will visit Hyogo Prefecture for 2 days, and will attend the ceremony on January 17, which marks the 30th anniversary of the quake.

The Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake which occurred on January 17, 1995, was the first quake in Japan to register an intensity of 7 on the Japanese seismic scale, resulting in 6,434 deaths and approximately 250,000 houses partially or completely destroyed.

After arriving at Kobe Airport, the Emperor and Empress will visit a special exhibition on the quake at Hyogo Prefectural Hyogo-no-Tsu Museum.