In Japan, the shortage of underground shelters to prepare for missile attacks and other threats is emerging as a security challenge. With relations with China deteriorating, there are growing calls locally to speed up the expansion of underground facilities with practical protective capabilities.
According to Nikkei Asia on the 22nd (local time), the Japanese government has set a goal of building an evacuation system by 2030 that can accommodate 100% of residents in every local government nationwide. But the capacity of high-protection underground shelters amounts to only about 5% of the total population. The Japanese government currently classifies facilities such as gymnasiums and public facilities as shelters, but many of them were not designed with missile attack scenarios in mind.
The biggest reason the expansion of underground shelters is slow is the enormous expense burden. According to the Japan Nuclear Shelter Association, even the construction expense for a small underground shelter that can accommodate about seven people can reach up to 100 million yen (952.75 million won). A model facility the association built in 2023 cost about 60 million yen (571.65 million won), but expenses have risen since then due to higher material prices.
Large facilities require budgets of several billion yen or more. The Tokyo Metropolitan Government allocated a budget of 4.2 billion yen to convert the emergency supplies storage facility at Toei Subway Azabu-juban Station into an underground shelter of about 1,400 square meters.
But there is no separate support program for building underground shelters nationwide, leaving most local governments to shoulder the expense on their own. Nikkei Asia said local governments are struggling to expand facilities due to financial burdens and a shortage of available sites.
An official at a public facilities site in Kumamoto City designated as a shelter told Nikkei Asia, "We may be prepared for earthquakes or typhoons, but we did not consider missile attacks." A Ground Self-Defense Force base equipped with long-range missiles was deployed near the facility in March. Nikkei Asia reported that because long-range missiles capable of striking China's coast have been deployed, there are concerns the area could become a target in an emergency.
The situation is not much different in areas around Self-Defense Forces bases. Although long-range missiles were deployed in March at a Ground Self-Defense Force base in Oyama, Shizuoka Prefecture, most underground shelters in the prefecture are concentrated in urban areas. Oyama effectively has only one underground facility, and securing additional sites is not easy. A local official said, "It is physically difficult to significantly increase underground shelters."
There are also concerns about a lack of evacuation infrastructure around nuclear power plants. Kashiwazaki City in Niigata Prefecture, home to Tokyo Electric Power Company's Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear plant, has designated 15 underground pedestrian passages as shelters, but residents are anxious about whether the facilities can provide sufficient protection in an actual attack. The plant's anti-terrorism facility, even as the plant resumed commercial operation in mid-April, has not yet been completed.
Around Matsue Nuclear Power Plant in Shimane Prefecture, the only nuclear plant located in a prefectural capital in Japan, there are only three public underground shelters. The prefecture's Nuclear Safety Measures Office said, "We have not identified private underground facilities." In Tokai, Ibaraki Prefecture, the population within a 30-kilometer radius exceeds 900,000, but there are only 13 underground shelters in the prefecture.
Uesugi Yuji, a professor at Waseda University, told Nikkei Asia, "Construction of shelters should be prioritized around facilities that could become targets," adding, "It is necessary to clarify priorities to strengthen safety measures at the local level."