Kobe East Park

A 2.7-hectare municipal park sprawling in the heart of downtown Kobe City on the south side of Sannomiya Station on JR and private railway lines. Originally built in the Meiji period as Japan's first Western-style exercise park, the park also served as an origin point from which Western sports such as baseball and soccer spread throughout the country. Today, the park is also used as the primary venue for events such as the Kobe Festival, the Kobe Luminarie, and memorial ceremonies for the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake. The park grounds are also the location of monuments relating to the disaster, such as a monument to the souls lost and post-disaster recovery, and the 1/17 Light of Hope.