The government unveiled its plan to evacuate tens of thousands of people from remote islands near Taiwan in case China acts on its oft-repeated threat to invade the island territory.
The plan released on March 27 would entail evacuating 120,000 residents and tourists from five municipalities in the Sakishima Islands of Okinawa Prefecture in the initial stage.
Over the course of six days, ships and aircraft would transport evacuees, approximately 20,000 per day, from the municipalities of Ishigaki, Miyako, Taketomi, Yonaguni and Tarama.
The plan also details steps to secure the necessary hotel accommodation for the evacuees.
Officials said the government intends to carry out an evacuation drill based on this scenario in fiscal 2026.
Evacuees will be transported to Yamaguchi Prefecture and seven other prefectures in the Kyushu region using vessels from the Self-Defense Forces and Japan Coast Guard, as well as private ferries and aircraft.
Thirty-two municipal governments in the eight prefectures will accept about 110,000 residents, excluding tourists, for the first month after the start of evacuation.
The evacuees will take chartered buses from Fukuoka and Kagoshima airports, where the aircraft will arrive from the Sakishima islands, to reach designated hotels. In principle, residents from the same municipalities will take refuge in the same prefecture.
But since Ishigaki and Miyako each has as many as 50,000 or so residents, they will evacuate to several prefectures.
To maintain local communities, evacuees from the area of the same elementary school will be taken to the same city or town.
Meals will be prepared by the hotels. The government will call on local retailers and other establishments to pitch in if the facilities encounter difficulties providing meals.
The contingency plan also includes setting up health consultation desks stationed by public health nurses.
The government moved quickly to establish a framework for an emergency of this nature based on the Civil Protection Law in tandem with moves to bolster defense of the Nansei Islands by deploying Ground SDF units to the Sakishima islands.
In the national security strategy established in 2022, policies were set down for swift evacuation and construction of shelters.
Although the government publicly said the evacuation plan “does not assume a particular incident,” officials within the government privately acknowledged that it was created with a potential Taiwan contingency in mind.
“The government will work hard on making the plan more effective in terms of support, including how to arrange accommodation for those with special needs, if the evacuation period goes beyond a month,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said at a news conference on March 27 in Tokyo.
AloJapan.com