News Story: 'Take cover' - but where? Japanese helpless over N.Korea threat

By Kyoko HASEGAWA, Hiroshi HIYAMA

Take cover in a sturdy building or get underground.

That's the emergency advice given to the Japanese people in the event of a North Korean missile strike.

But there are two big problems: most Japanese homes are made of wood and lack a basement. In the countryside, there is often no building made of concrete.

And with only a matter of minutes from launch to impact, there's simply no time to take cover.

As North Korea this week fired its second missile over Japan in less than a month and threatened to "sink" the country into the sea with nuclear weapons, many Japanese feel a sense of helplessness in the face of the threat from Pyongyang.

Sushi chef Isamu Oya, 67, who runs a restaurant in the small fishing town of Erimo, right under the flightpath of Friday's missile, summed up the feelings of many.

"The government told us to take cover in a stable building or underground, but there isn't one here. We have no choice but just do nothing.

"Scary? Yes, but we can't help it."

Read the full story at SpaceDaily

News Report: Officials Advise Citizens What to Do if North Korea Nukes Japan

Japan has warned its citizens that, in the case of a North Korean nuclear attack, they may have as few as four minutes to rush to safety.

Tokyo admitted that their warning system would likely detect a missile launch no more than 10 minutes in advance, and possibly not even as quickly as that. "A missile may not be detected as soon as it leaves the launch pad … and that could take several minutes. Depending on the case, the warnings and alarms might only sound four or five minutes before a missile arrives," said Hirofumi Yoshimura, mayor of Osaka, Japan's second-largest metropolitan area.

The grim reminder came out of a meeting of the nation's top disaster and crisis officials in Tokyo, where the federal government urged the prefectures to raise the awareness and preparedness of their constituents.

Japan's J-Alert system is meant to warn local governments of an imminent missile attack via satellite, telephone and cyberspace mediums. From there, local governments will warn the citizenry via emergency broadcasts on TV and radio, cell phone alerts and outdoor loudspeaker announcements.

News Report: Nuke Shelters, Air Purifiers Sell Out in Japan Amid Fears of Nuclear War

Demand for family-grade nuclear shelters and stationary air purifiers is skyrocketing in Japan, amid fears of a North Korean nuclear or chemical attack.

Oribe Seiki Seisakusho, a company that specializes in building fallout shelters, mostly underneath private homes, received eight orders in April alone, compared to about six orders in a typical year, according to the Japan Times. The company has also reported having sold out of its stock of Swiss-made air purification systems, designed to protect against radiation and poisonous gases, and is currently looking to obtain more.

Another company, Earth Shift, also reported a tenfold increase in underground fallout shelter sales. According to the company director, Akira Shiga, orders have been on the rise since February, and are coming in from across the country.

The reason for the surging demand is obvious: Pyongyang's increasingly frequent missile tests. In March, North Korea launched a missile capable of delivering a nuclear payload, which fell in the waters of Japan's exclusive economic zone, some 300 to 350 km off the country's coast.