On January 17, 1995, the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake struck Kobe. In the season that followed, the baseball team Orix BlueWave wore a patch on the right sleeve that read Ganbarō KOBE. Let us keep at it, Kobe.
That year, the team won its first Pacific League title since moving to Kobe. In November 1995, the players, among them Ichirō, held a victory parade in uniforms that carried the same words.