TOKYO - The Tokyo metropolitan government has unveiled a plan to use an underground facility near Tokyo Station as a shelter for residents and tourists in the event of a ballistic missile attack.
Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike told a press conference earlier this month that a survey will begin in the current fiscal year through March in preparation for revamping Yaesu Parking Lot, which is located about 2 to 11 meters underground.
The alterations are expected to include setting up blast-proof doors and storage shelves for emergency supplies, a metropolitan government official said. The facility has a total floor space of roughly 13,000 square meters.
It would be the capital city's second emergency underground shelter, with a 1,400-square-meter storage facility for disasters at Azabu-Juban subway station currently under conversion, the official said.
Koike said that the Yaesu parking facility was chosen for its proximity to Tokyo Station, which she described as "the gateway to the capital" with many visiting the area.
The plan comes as North Korea has repeatedly test-fired ballistic missiles into regional waters, including the Sea of Japan, in recent years while advancing its nuclear development program.
Koike described the neighboring country's repeated missile launches as "a serious and grave threat that can never be tolerated" and stressed the need to "protect the lives and property of Tokyo residents" from attacks.
The completion date, specific construction requirements and costs of the project will be determined after the survey, which is slated to continue into fiscal 2027, according to the official.
The central government announced last year it plans to set up similar shelters in remote islands in the southern prefecture of Okinawa, amid China's mounting military pressure on Taiwan, a self-ruled island viewed by Beijing as a renegade province to be eventually reunified with the mainland by force if necessary.
In Japan's westernmost Yonaguni Island located about 110 kilometers east of Taiwan, shelter construction work is scheduled to finish around spring 2028.
