What Is Inside a Japanese Emergency Backpack?

Because of its geographical location, Japan is famous for being prone to natural threats such as earthquakes, tsunamis, typhoons, and the occasional volcanic eruptions. As a foreigner from a country where none of those phenomena exist, moving to Japan meant I needed a minimum amount of knowledge and preparedness about them. Maybe this is what brought you to this article. Read on to learn more about what items would be useful to have ready-packed in case of an emergency.

Why Do You Need an Emergency Backpack?

Earthquakes or floods might prevent you from going outside after a disaster or accessing the usual resources, such as electricity, tap water, and nearby shops. You may also have to leave the comfort of your home to take refuge in an evacuation shelter. (You can check your nearest evacuation shelter on the Disaster Prevention Portal.)

Although I always had a vital minimum of water, food, and emergency tools ready at home, to my great shame, after 12 years of living in Japan, I was still missing an important piece of equipment: the emergency backpack. Since there have been regular (albeit rather small) earthquakes around the Tokyo area lately, and the possibility of the “big one” is still lurking, the topic came up in a conversation with my tabletop role-playing game pals (I have many hobbies.) Alas, I found out I was the only one unprepared, and that motivated me to finally order a ready-made emergency kit online.