KOBE, a beautiful port town looking out over the tranquil Inland Sea the Setonaikai and backed by the verdant Mt. Rokko. In constant contact with the outside world since Meiji times, it has been a fashionable town always on the leading edge of culture and civilization, with strong industries and a vibrant music, arts and sports scene, while its streets have been lined with trees and flowers.

Early in the morning of 17 January 1995, all that changed when the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake struck. Completely unexpected, the earthquake tore Kobe apart in seconds. Whole streets were on fire, buildings had tumbled everywhere, piers had collapsed, and men and women young and old stood around in complete confusion. In TV and radio reports, the number of victims rose in the hundreds.

I had been assigned for Mitsubishi’s Kobe branch, but at the time of the quake I was in Tokyo on business. The morning news hit me like a bolt from the blue, and I found myself glued to the TV. I wondered whether the Kobe branch offices were alright, whether my work colleagues were safe, and immediately decided that it was my job to return to Kobe immediately and lend a hand as best I could. I booked a plane ticket to Osaka for the next morning, and ran around town that evening doing shopping to prepare the necessary goods.
I bought a rucksack, emergency food supplies, a flashlight, heavy gloves, a helmet, hiking boots for broken ground, and a large overcoat to keep out the cold in case
I had to stay in buildings where the power was out. The list went on.

The next morning, I loaded this all up and set off for Haneda Airport. On board the plane, my thoughts were running wild. I remembered all the things that had happened since I joined the company, traveling around the world on business, spending Christmas evening at a factory when I had to stand in on a machinery delivery, my colleagues and I hugging each other with joy at the success of some business projects … All those memories replayed in my head as vivid images.

Suddenly I realized something. This was an experience that seemed somehow familiar. What was it? Ah, I’d seen it in movies. It was just like those scenes when generals and soldiers were setting off for war with the realization that they would probably die doing own duty. This was what was portrayed as going through their heads as they sat in their trains and planes. So that was the frame of mind that I was in …

I went into Osaka from the Itami airport. The trains and roads to Kobe had been destroyed, and it was impossible to get in by land. I went to the South Harbor to try to get there by sea. There were crowds of other people milling around who had had the same idea. There were only a limited number of boats and it was impossible to get a ticket. I went back to the company’s Osaka branch and talked over the problem. Through a skipper that my colleague knew, I managed to get hold of a fishing boat that agreed to take me to Kobe the next day.

The Kobe branch where I had been working was right in the middle of the disaster zone. While the damage all around that area was enormous, by some lucky chance that building was still standing. Inside, desks, chairs, photocopiers and everything else were strewn all around, as if they had been struck down. This would have to be dealt with straight away.
I would need help. The Kobe townspeople seemed to have no idea what they should do.
I went around looking at the town and created a map showing the degree of damage in the various areas, particularly the danger zones where buildings had fallen, where there were holes in the roads or uneven surfaces, where overhead bridges had collapsed, where shattered window glass lay around on the ground, and where buildings stood at drunken angles. I tried to make it as clear as possible, adding pictures so that it could be used by people coming in later.

I went back to the Osaka branch and gathered together volunteers from among the younger staff members. It didn’t take long to get a group of 20 together. The next day, I took the group back to Kobe by boat. With everyone’s help, the office at least was finally straightened out. We also checked as to the whereabouts of all the Kobe branch staff. A few days later, floods of people came in from our Tokyo headquarters and affiliated companies to offer sympathy and support and to check the damage. Using my map, they looked over the town, and went to call on the company’s trading partners.

The focus of discussion was how our company should respond to this situation. What should we do? In the midst of all the confusion, it was hard to reach a consensus. Many staff members thought we should treat the disaster as a business opportunity and make a business out of restoration work. Some even suggested that we should draw up and distribute estimates for temporary housing and tools, etc. I strongly opposed to this approach. A phrase rose to the front of my mind to persuade them. It was the slogan of our company philosophy. In my capacity as a Kobe staff member, I sent off a letter with my personal views to our Tokyo headquarters and the Osaka branch. The letter ran as follows:

Following a list of specific measures we could take, I suggested that as a company, we should establish a recovery fund and use this to focus on a specific corporate social responsibility agenda. We should provide the necessary goods, machinery and facilities, identify key construction projects and possible corporate partners, and establish the necessary recovery support systems. “A friend in need is a friend indeed,” I quoted.

Some heated discussion developed with Tokyo and Osaka, but in the end, the company firmly grasped what I was saying and sent donation after donation, including blankets, mineral water, heating equipment, clothing, caravans, and portable baths.
The caravans were immediately put into use by Kobe City as mobile hospitals, much to the joy of the locals. The portable baths were set up on the Meriken breakwater on the edge of Kobe Port. These sucked in salt water and desalinated and heated it for hot showers for people in the big tents. Because of the location, these showers were nicknamed the “Meriken Hot Spring”, and boat passengers also had free access to them. Some people even left behind thank you letters, saying how happy and grateful they were. We were pleased to be doing something that made the local people happy. The head of the Kobe City Port Authority and other public figures with whom I had come into contact through work were also deeply happy at these contributions to local welfare.

With the cooperation of volunteers from all over Japan, the reconstruction of Kobe also proceeded smoothly. Companies worked on a 24-hour schedule on a voluntary basis to rebuild the piers and cranes, etc., vital to Kobe as a port city. The ties that developed with the local community saw an increasing number of good jobs come in. A local project expanded into a sense of Japan as a single country, coordination of the reconstruction work improved, and the whole process began to move forward smoothly.

In 1997, the International Association of Ports and Harbors asked Kobe to give a lecture. They wanted a detailed presentation on the port technology that enabled completion of the recovery process in a bare two years since Kobe’s earthquake. The lecture was to be given in Santiago, Chile. Kobe City asked me to take part too, so I went along with the Technology Division Director from the Port Authority . The world’s port technology experts who were gathered in this international conference listened to our presentations and looked at the photographs and data, and were startled at Kobe’s excellent recovery. Japan was praised for the amazing results produced by the united efforts of the public and private sector to rebuild the local community, and for its technology and ability to concentrate its efforts.

I recently visited Kobe for the first time in a while. I had been back in Tokyo for six years. The head of the Port Authority, who had worked so furiously at the time, was still contributing to the development of the city, this time as the director of a museum. When I suddenly appeared on his doorstep, he shook me by the hand and expressed his pleasure at meeting again. I was asked to a group lunch, promoting lively reminiscences of events at the time. Apparently, my friend still has fond memories of the “Meriken Hot Springs”. He took me up to the viewing platform in the Kobe Port Tower, noting that the city was almost back to normal, and that a new airport construction was in the process on reclaimed land just off Kobe.
We talked as we looked out over the construction area. I lost all sense of passing time, happy to find that it had not been a mistake to push ahead with recovery and reconstruction.
I remembered the faces of all those I had worked alongside day after day to rebuild Kobe.
I realized that I had contributed at least a little to that process. It was deeply satisfying to be standing there together with the person who had prayed for greater local development.

In recent years, corporate social responsibility (CSR) has become a concept with worldwide standing. I hope that my successors will continue to work with that spirit firmly in mind.