The Emergency Preparedness Radio : 防災ラジオ (Bousai Radio)

Just the other day, completely to my surprise, the city of Koto mailed to every household in my apartment building, and I think a bunch of other households in our little ward of Tokyo, with an Emergency Preparedness Radio. With the Coronavirus and increasing risk of a disaster by typhoon, plus the ever present danger of earthquakes, they decided to roll out these radios as a precautionary measure to the residents of Koto ward! I am really appreciative of their forethought and organization! These are some things that I noticed about the radios.

Getting Information During and After a Catostrophic Disaster Event

Smartphones and the Internet seem like they are all powerful and nothing can stop them. But for spreading the word quickly with infrastructure that is low cost and able to survive widespread fires, cuts in electricity, and over all structural failure, nothing really beats the lowly radio. Luckily Disaster Prepapedness Radios or 防災ラヂオ(Bousai Radio) can easily be procured. My ward in Tokyo actually gave every household in my apartment building one for free with instructions how to use it! (I can’t verify that every household in my ward received one, but I and my neighbors certainly did!)

Emergency Preparedness Radio Useful Features

The Bousai Radio has several key and useful features a little different from the standard AM/FM radios.

Manual Hand Crank for Power

The Disaster Prevention Radio at a distance

The first thing that caught my eye was the hand crank for charging it up by hand. Of course batteries can be used, too. There is a small switch for going back and forth between the two power systems. On my free Disaster Preparedness Radio the internal cell is fully charged after one minute of cranking. Which also means that it doesn’t carry much power. With this I can play the radio for fifteen minutes, use the radio light for ten minutes, blow the siren for three minutes, or use a smartphone for around three minutes of talk time. Other non-free versions of this radio type can store a lot more energy.

Can Charge Mobile Phones

The Disaster Prevention Radio with light and USB port

The Disaster Preparedness Radio can be used to charge cell phones and smartphones! My free one cannot fully charge a mobile phone, but according to the instructions you hand crank the radio for up to one minute and this will give you enough power to talk on your smartphone/cell phone for up to three minutes.

Not fantastic, but if there aren’t any batteries available it can mean the difference between hours or days of frustration and fear over communicating with loved ones and a quick call to make sure everyone is OK. Using the dry cell batteries there should be enough charge to last for twenty minutes of talking and four hours of standby time. The versions of this radio that people pay money for can last a lot longer!

Light and Siren

Not only does it have radio and some charging ability, but there is also a flashlight and siren included. If you use the dry cell batteries then the light can last for 19 hours and the siren can go off for 17 hours. Not bad if you really want to bring attention to yourself or are afraid of the dark!

The Radio Disaster Prevention System / 防災体制ラジオ (Bousai Taisei Radio)

88.5MHz, Rainbow Town FM, is the radio station that is part of the Disaster Prevention System in Koto ward of Tokyo metropolis and will give out evacuation notices in case of flooding and emergency information and instructions during other types of disaster there. Other cities and wards will have their own radio station set up for the same purpose. So please look into what that radio station is in your own home area. It should be on any Disaster Prevention or Hazard map that you can find at a city building or library in your area.

Leaving Voice Messages Over The Emergency System When Normal Communication Infrastructure is Overloaded

This is actually not a feature of the Disaster Preparedness Radio, but if your mobile phone is low on power and you have to rely on the radios hand crank generator, then this voice message system can come in very handy… Especially if a lot of infrastructure has been destroyed.

Recording Method: 171-1-(XXX)XXX-XXXX -> Recording
Replaying Method: 171-2-(XXX)XXX-XXXX -> Replay Message

In Conclusion

I am really satisfied with my ward for sending these out to everyone for free. It’s not fancy but it gets all the basic jobs done like listening in to both AM and FM frequencies, has a light, siren, and can charge mobile phones (a little bit). Thank you, Koto City!

References

In English

Hand Generating Radio Koto Anshin Radio 885 Eco-3 (K) How To Use

In Japanese

Rainbow Town FM Broadcasting Co., Ltd.

防災備蓄用ラジオ「こうとう安心ラジオ885」を配布します

Video of the Koto Anshin Radio 885

Image Thanks To my wife ;-D !!

About the Author

Pjechorin

I have lived and worked with my family in Japan since 2005. For many years I have been interested in the very practical and creative side of Japanese culture. In my free time I travel around, enjoy hiking in the countryside and cities, and just generally seeing and doing new things. This blog is primarily a way for me to focus my energies and record and teach others about what I have learned by experience constructively. I am interested in urban development, and sustainable micro-economics, especially home-economics, and practical things everyday families can do to survive and thrive through these changing times.