The Akashi Kaikyo Bridge (pictured), then the world's longest suspension bridge, linking Awaji Island and Kobe in Japan, opened to traffic.

The Akashi Kaikyo Bridge is a suspension bridge that links the city of Kobe on the Japanese island of Honshu and Iwaya, Awaji on Awaji Island. It is part of the Kobe-Awaji-Naruto Expressway, and crosses the busy and turbulent Akashi Strait. It was completed in 1998, and at the time, was the longest central span of any suspension bridge in the world, at 1,991 metres (6,532 ft). Currently, it is the second-longest, behind the 1915 Çanakkale Bridge in Turkey that was opened in March 2022.

The world's longest suspension bridges are listed according to the length of their main span. The length of the main span is the most common method of comparing the sizes of suspension bridges, often correlating with the height of the towers and the engineering complexity involved in designing and constructing the bridge. If one bridge has a longer span than another, it does not necessarily mean that the bridge is longer from shore to shore.

Awaji Island is an island in Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan, in the eastern part of the Seto Inland Sea between the islands of Honshū and Shikoku. The island has an area of 592.17 square kilometres. It is the largest island of the Seto Inland Sea.

Kobe, officially Kobe City , is the capital city of Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan. With a population of around 1.5 million, Kobe is Japan's seventh-largest city and the third-largest port city after Tokyo and Yokohama. It is located in the Kansai region, which makes up the southern side of the main island of Honshū, on the north shore of Osaka Bay. It is part of the Keihanshin metropolitan area along with Osaka and Kyoto. The Kobe city centre is located about 35 km (22 mi) west of Osaka and 70 km (43 mi) southwest of Kyoto.