Miyako Airport and surrounding Miyakojima city, in the Sakashima islands, Okinawa prefecture, Japan, in an undated photo. (Okinawa prefecture)
An updated plan recently released by the Japanese government details how and where it will move 120,000 people from the country’s long chain of westernmost islands in the event of a military attack or other emergency.
The 110,000 residents of the Sakishima island chain’s five municipalities would relocate to 32 municipalities in southern Japan, according to the plan posted Thursday on the Cabinet Secretariat Civil Protection Portal site. The plan also accounts for 10,000 tourists who may be visiting during a contingency.
The plan does not cite a specific trigger, but U.S. and Japanese military planners consider the islands potentially in the crossfire should China move to take possession of Taiwan.
China asserts sovereignty over the self-governing island democracy and this year “will likely apply stronger coercive pressure against Taiwan” as part of its goal to unify the island politically with the mainland, according to the Annual Threat Assessment released in March by the U.S. Director of National Intelligence.
China’s military on Tuesday announced another round of large drills by navy, air, ground and rocket forces around Taiwan, The Associated Press reported.
The 44-island Sakishima chain, part of Okinawa prefecture, stretches southwest of Okinawa island to within 75 miles of Taiwan.
Japan in 2023 opened a missile base on Ishigaki island in the chain and deployed Type-12 surface-to-ship guided missiles and Type-03 surface-to-air guided missiles there as a hedge against Beijing’s increased military presence in the region.
The latest evacuation plan would move 20,000 people over six days via commercial airplanes, ships, buses and trains. The plan was developed during tabletop exercises in March 2023, January 2024 and January this year. The plan defines no role for either the U.S. military or Japan Self-Defense Forces.
The populations of Taketomi and Yonaguni towns and Tarama village would travel by ship or plane to Ishigaki and Miyakojima cities to meet evacuees there, according to the plan. They would then fly to either Fukuoka Airport or Kagoshima Airport, then travel by bus or train to hotels at the final evacuation sites on Kyushu and Honshu, two of Japan’s four main islands.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi told reporters Thursday that he will “work closely with related municipalities and private companies” to determine who will pay transportation and accommodation costs, including meals for the evacuees.
“For the future, we will need to consider how to support education and work in case evacuees need to stay for longer than a month,” he said.
The plan’s cost has not been determined yet, a spokesman for Okinawa’s Disaster Prevention and Crisis Management Division said by phone Tuesday. Some Japanese government officials speak to the press only on condition of anonymity.
Ishigaki city Mayor Yoshitaka Nakayama, in a post Thursday on social media platform X, said, “six days is too long,” and requested a three-day timeline to “save lives.”
