Japan to consider backup capital city for emergencies

A lot of land available in the Fukushima area!

Yes, please place them inside the reactors. That would be the best place.

Japan will consider creating a.....blah blah blah

A new panel will discuss the idea......blah blah blah

The panel is expected to consider ......blah blah blah

And that's all they do....form panel after panel after panel to discuss, consider, discuss, consider...and at that poor rate nothing ever gets done in this country. Everything is snail-paced and they seem to like it. 5 months and they haven't done anything!!! Shame on this government.

A lot of land available in the Fukushima area!

Osaka's the right size but almost as vulnerable to earthquakes as Tokyo. Fukuoka would be a better choice.

How about, Japan Considers Back up Politicians for Emergencies? Japanese Men Consider Back up Wives for Emergencies. Japanese Wives Consider Back up Men for Emergencies. There are lots more possibilities.

Thats a very good idea!

In the 80s they were supposed to relocate some of the government ministries to Tsukuba to help decentralize a bit.

lol No way!, keep that corrupted trash confined in Tokyo, we don't need their stench here in Tsukuba. YUCK~

Antartica seems relatively safe (away from the coastline, of course). Plus, there's lot of penguins waddling around.

ROFL!!!

oh man, still too close to Ibaraki, I wish I could send them more far...say Hokkaido!! =D

Backup wayyyyyyy south.

Okinawa, Fukuoka are the best choices.

Honshu Island let me see it`s a bad choice because if tokyo will experience an earthquake they will have extensive damage too.

hmmmm

What cities are on Honshu Island Hmmmmm Osaka, NO Yokohama, NO it will get hit with a Tsunami its verry close to the sea Sendai, No just had a big earthquake in March 11 Utsunomiya NO Traffic for years Carmaggeddon Any city in Saitama ( the way the drive up there Helllllllll Noooooo ) Chiba ? Can you say the new (prefecture) city of Atlantis ( check Urayasu ) half of it went underwater. NO

FUKUOKA is the best choice.

Japan this year broke the record for the highest earthquake scale

Maybe it will break another record

having 6 earthquakes happen simultaneously

Backup city. Sapporo? It has the infrastructure.

@badge - Hope that was a joke? What they need to do is build a big underground bunker in Mt. Fuji.

One of the biggest active volcanoes in the world...

Okinawa and let them enjoy the annual typhoon season.

Back to Kyoto! The anagram lover's Tokyo.

@oberst

i vote for any city in Okinawa, now the Okinawan would really believe they are true japanese.

Excuse me? Born and raised in Okinawa here, ok? I'll stomp down on the Hinomaru before someone calls me "true Japanese" before Okinawan. The mainland people came here and terminated the Ryukyu kingdom, so please don't get me started... ^_~ I wonder what YuriOtani would say about this...lol

AsagaoAug. 09, 2011 - 10:19AM JST

Hokkaido? Are you serious? It has a hostile climate and is so far away from the rest of Japan. Or are you joking?

Hokkaido is the best idea!

My arguments:

low etherquake military security from USA and China diversification of area more stable politics from NK and Russia (please compare with China!) stable energy (gaz, possibility transport of electricity ) from Russia ecology clean geothermal energy

Climate is fresh air for strong peoples, many fish and other products from Russia.

I wonder what Tokyo Governor Ishihara thinks about this idea.

In the 80s they were supposed to relocate some of the government ministries to Tsukuba to help decentralize a bit. We haven't heard a peep about this in the last 30 years and has conveniently been "forgotten" by the government bots in Tokyo. I wouldn't be surprised if this went the same way. Sorry to sound so pessimistic but like "sillygirl" said, "that old chestnut."

Why don't you just move Tokyo instead :)

In the 80s Tsukuba was a commonly floated idea for decentralization: close enough to Tokyo to be convenient, but far enough to reduce congestion. Then in the mid-90's the topic heated up after the Kobe quake, with the focus this time being on redundancy and cities such as Nagoya and Sendai were among the most discussed.

This time round, I wouldn't be surprised if discussions didn't focus even further afield. Fukuoka, Sapporo,...

If we are talking about the risk of a big earthquake, the back-up capital / facilities have to be outside the Kanto region. The Big E will not only hit Tokyo and stop at Chiba. You have to spread out the risk as much as possible.

Osaka seems the be most likely candidate considering their infrastructure but I think cities in Kyushu and Hokkaido should also be seriously considered.

How about putting the 2nd capitol city on those islands under dispute with South Korea.

20 years ago, Sendai was promulgated as the back-up for Tokyo! Good job that was not acted upon.

Decentralising the government from Tokyo would weaken the bureaucrats control over everything, so there will be great resistance to it. But even if some basic functions were to be relocated over to the Japan sea side, there are even more nuclear reactors over there! As others have written, the WW2 option of Nagano is reasonable, rather like the US continuity of government bunker at Mount Weather or Site R at Raven Rock.

"20 years ago, Sendai was promulgated as the back-up for Tokyo! "

No, no, 65 yrs ago, Washington DC became a back-up. Now they'd prefer Pekin ? Seriously, Japanese politicians in Tokyo are just like Saint-Simon said about the king and princes in his time, they can disappear, nobody will notice before several years. Look at Belgium, one year without government, business as usual.

The real problem is about industry. Management, research, marketing, production of so many companies are mostly in Kanto. Cut them the electricity, and it's half of the supply of everything that is stopped.

+

Strengthening of positions of the Japanese companies in the Russian market. For example, for company Mitsubishi the Russian market of cars became one of the world's largest.

+8. To reduce economic influence of China in Russia. It is more effective than creation of a nuclear bomb. Though certainly, such decisions demand the big will and actually aren't possible.

I understand there will be a large plot of land available in Ginowa, Okinawa in the future. Start building there! Plus, that puts the back-up capital SO much closer to Japan's friends in South Korea and Taiwan. (oh... wait...)

Shikoku would be the perfect place for a sub capitol if they are worried about earthquakes. Historically Shikoku doesn't get any strong quakes. Matsuyama, Ehime on the west side of Shikoku is a great idea! I've lived in Osaka and I remember the big one in '95 when Kobe got hit hard! Fukuoka isn't a good spot because they got hit with a quake a few years ago and suffered some damage and they aren't really that prepared for quakes too. At first I thought about Hokkaido but it's far away and they get their fair share of quakes there too and the heavy winter snow would add a speed bump to everyday government and finance functions. So yes my vote is for Matsuyama, Ehime!

My say is bring back Kamakura. It is beautiful, and the surfing and sailing is pretty good too.

Osaka Gov Toru Hashimoto has proposed making his western prefecture the country’s subcapital.

The Battle of Sekigahara settled this discussion long ago Guv.

What about Kochi? it's so obscure that not even mother nature would know where it is.

A great idea!

Please discuss this when the nuclear crisis is finally over, not now!

Thanks!

OracleAug. 10, 2011 - 04:47PM JST

A great idea! Please discuss this when the nuclear crisis is finally over, not now! Thanks!

The radiation problem as rule is long life. May be build new of backup capital city can get houses for victim. May be Fukushima area will be relax without man. Nature will cure without man.

On and off, they've been talking about relocating government offices for over a decade. I wonder if this current crisis has given them enough of a taste of reality to finally make it happen, or will this panel be just another bunch of talking heads?

that old chestnut

Neo Tokyo?

I wonder what Tokyo Governor Ishihara thinks about this idea.

Could't find an article in detail about it, but his comment after an undisclosed discussion with Gov. Hashimoto was in the lines of :

"Well OK, as long as it's only a backup"

Natural disaster or terrorist attack. How about war with China? Osaka is the logical choice. It is in the centre, has easy access to safe food, international airport and ports there and in Kobe. Only downside is if their is a nuclear accident that resulted in radiation being released into Biwako. That would effect 12 million plus people's health.

Antartica seems relatively safe (away from the coastline, of course). Plus, there's lot of penguins waddling around.

I'm sure I read somewhere that Sendai had already been chosen as a substitute capital and that certain parts of the government had already put things in place (communication networks etc) in Sendai in case something happened to Tokyo.

Nagoya wouldn't be a bad idea either, it's a major city that's close but any major incident in Tokyo isn't likely to reach or devastate Nagoya as much.

The article brings up good questions as what the purpose of all of this would be.

Administratively you can choose backup locations in the far Western Tokyo areas, around the mountains.

Osaka, please no. Keep it somewhere in nagoya or maybe Oshima island heh

Maybe they should look at the old plans from WWII. Wasn't Nagano the backup for the Imperial family?

why backup just move

Sapporo seems like a great choice. Plenty of food and space, far from Tokyo.

@Speed

In the 80s they were supposed to relocate some of the government ministries to Tsukuba to help decentralize a bit. We haven't heard a peep about this in the last 30 years and has conveniently been "forgotten" by the government bots in Tokyo.

I would say the opposite has happened. Some government offices that were located outside Central Tokyo were moved in to the city to be closer to officials....

I suggest a massive underground bunker similar to the one in Evangellion.

Why don't they just move to Saitama, there is already a good deal of government departments here already and we barely get affected by earthquakes, far from the sea so no tsunami.

What they need to do is build a big underground bunker in Mt. Fuji.

The panel is expected to consider moving part of Tokyo’s capital functions to a distant location unlikely to be affected by the same disaster.

Maybe Brazil, Sudan, Australia?

Where? I don't think you can find a safe earthquake place on this island.

Where? I don't think you can find an earthquake-safe place on this island.

i vote for any city in Okinawa, now the Okinawan would really believe they are true japanese.

Stop discussing, the perfect town is already in place, waiting to be used - again! I am talking about Bonn, the former Capital of than West Germany. It already has most of the needed buildings for the whole Government and its close to the Japanese Island of Duesseldorf! And I am sure there are enough people and businesses still around to cater to the "special" needs of politicians.

It would appear that Government or ministries wish to move to a "SAFE" area, nice to see they are finally showing some care for their children. Would like to see the same concern for others...too much to expect. They should think about Moving to Korea or Manchuria, might work a second time?

They need more than one. Seriously. Giving different parts of the country the kind of status tokyo gets simply for being the center would be a great thing.

Even if they did create some sort of a alternate, wud it even function properly assuming some people cud get there.

I had to flog the old horse but unless Japan re-invents itself on many levels, personal, regional, govt, she will just continue to decline.

And lets face it if Tokyo were to ever be hit hard, the country is a goner with or without some form of alternate, Japan wud be on its way to the lifestyle enjoyed by NKorea, maybe not that nasty but certainly a long way in that direction, the entire country wud be hammered if Tokyo gets nailed. Best you can hope for is to survive & hope you can get out of Japan if Tokyo goes down.

All government functions need to moved out of Tokyo to Nagoya. Too much industry is concentrated in Tokyo for Japan's own good, plus the national government.

But like others have said this has been talked about for decades and nothing happens. It will take the great quake in Tokyo for anything to happen and then of course it will be too late.

Hokkaido? Are you serious? It has a hostile climate and is so far away from the rest of Japan. Or are you joking?