2012.02.06

What's going on?
The latest on disaster prevention goods

The occurrence of the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011 has led to an increased interest in disaster prevention goods, which was never seen before in Japan. These are items that you usually forget about during everyday life, and there were many people who were amazed at how these products had evolved when they went to the store after the earthquake. We went to the Tokyu Hands Shibuya Store, which boasts the largest selection of items in Tokyo, to find out the latest.

An age of customized disaster prevention goods.
Pick and choose emergency foods of your liking

"It used to be that 'disaster prevention sets' that contained everything you needed in case of an emergency was the main item. But now, there is more of selection items, and the trend now is for families to pick and combine the disaster prevention goods that they need, " says Mr. Hanato. The huge selection of emergency food that line the shelf epitomizes this.

The first thing that caught our eyes was the extensive selection of food. It used to be that when you thought of emergency food in Japan, kanpan dry bread came to mind. Now, you can find a wide variety of food and tastes from bread, pilaf, rice cakes, curry to stew. Even the packages that line the shelf are colorful. Since when did this happen?

"Actually, we've had an extensive selection of emergency food since before the earthquake. A lot of our customers who came to our store after the quake were amazed at the wide variety that was available."

So says Kazuaki Hanato, who is in charge of disaster prevention goods at the Tokyu Hands Shibuya Store. With advances in preservation technology, the variety of foods available has greatly expanded and he says that "there are more customers who are picking their favorite menu items and combining them. We were amazed at the techniques used to be able to eat delicious food without using fire or electricity such as rice cakes that become soft with just water, and stew that comes with an exothermic agent to heat it up the package.

The stew is heated using a reaction between the included exothermic agent and exothermic liquid.

・Forica Foods Rescue Foods One Meal Box Stew & Rice (870 yen)

*All prices include tax.

Heat the packaged food in the bag for 20 minutes. Steam rises from the holes in the bag.

Let stand for 10 minutes and place on a plate to serve. You've just made stew with lots of ingredients and rice!

It seems that rice is still the most popular, and there is a surprising variety of "Alpha Rice" that can be made ready for eating with room temperature water. It used to be that many people disliked that unique smell and taste of the rice... But now, Mr. Hanato says that "Alpha Rice is constantly being improved and is invaluable for overseas business trips and for mountain climbing. It is totally different from what it used to be, and is really delicious." If you like mountain climbing, you could try out a few and stock the ones you like for an emergency.

Bread in cans is one emergency food product where you can really appreciate improvements to preservation technology. You can enjoy a freshly baked flavor anytime.

・Left: Soft bread in can - Raisin (352 yen)

・Right: Soft bread in a can - Orange (352 yen)

*All prices include consumption tax

Just soak in water for 3 minutes to enjoy soft isobe mochi (rice cakes wrapped with seaweed). Includes seaweed and soy sauce. There are also other flavors available such as anko-yaki (sweet azuki bean paste) and soybean flour

・Instant dehydrated rice cakes for preservation - Isobe mochi (420 yen)

The most popular is Alpha Rice. In addition to Japanese flavors such as white rice and rice cooked with various ingredients, dry curry and pilaf are also popular.

・Left: Magic Rice Preserved Food - Dry Curry (357 yen)

・Middle: Alpha Rice Ume Plum and Seaweed Rice (357 yen)

・Right: Alpha Rice Okowa cooked with various ingredients (339 yen)

High-tech disaster prevention goods.
How well do they work!?

A portable solar cell power generator with a characteristic wide panel. Ideal for charging electronic equipment such as laptops that require large amounts of power.

・Solar Gorilla (26,250 yen)

Even if you've been checking the latest smartphones, most people don't really know that disaster prevention goods are also becoming high tech. Taking a fresh look at these items is pretty interesting. After the earthquake, with planned blackouts and energy saving, we became more thankful for just having electricity. "In particular there were increased needs for electricity or energy related products," says Mr. Hanato.

For example, portable solar cell power generators that are capable of large capacity charging have been quietly popular. This is need unique to the times when we just can't live without laptop computers and smartphones. The hand cranked radio with build-in-light is also a "power generating item" but is slightly more low tech but also reassuring during a blackout.

Another interesting product is a mysterious one known as a "water battery". We asked Mr. Hanato what this was and he replied "It's a battery that generates power when you put water in it. It doesn't generate or lose power until you put water in it, which means that if unopened, it can be stored for up to 20 years." This was surprising.

There are many radios with built in flashlights that are available which you can charge with a hand crank or simply gripping it. This product uses energy saving LEDs and can even charge cell phones.

・LED Multi-Portable Lantern (5,250 yen)

This water battery generates power when you pour water in the hole in the product. You can also use juice or coffee, and even saliva. Provides peace of mind since you can store these for a lot longer than conventional dry cell batteries.

・NOPOPO 3 AA Batteries for Disasters (600 yen)

There were also numerous thermal blankets that utilize technology developed by NASA. This is a type that is gold on one surface and silver on the other. The silver side reflects back body heat and the gold side absorbs outside heat.

・Space Blanket Orange x Silver (661 yen)

There were also other high tech disaster prevention products that we didn't even know existed such as a Geiger counter that you connect directly to your iPhone and tweets the results on Twitter, and ultra-lightweight thermal blankets that utilize technology developed by NASA.

A Geiger counter (radiation measuring instrument) that can be used by connecting to an iPhone or iPod Touch. Connection is with a special cable.

・Geiger counter RDTX-PRO (34,800 yen)

Results appear about 2 minutes after you start measuring. The level in front of the Tokyu Hands Shibuya Store was low, at 0.028msv/h. One of the appeals of the product is its high accuracy with a margin of error of ±5%.

Measurement results can be shared using Facebook, Twitter, or Google Maps. Measurements from around the world are displayed on the map.

Survival-type disaster prevention goods
that don't take up space in the house

A helmet that can be folded into a compact size. Even if you have one for every family member, if you stack them up, they take up little space.

・Tatamet (5,250 yen)

In the event of a disaster, you have consider harsh situations where there is no electricity, gas or water. When you look at disaster prevention goods, or survival-type goods that can be a lifesaver in these situations, you notice a certain trend. In addition to the thermal blanket mentioned earlier, there are many items that can be stored in a compact manner such as foldable helmets and straw-type water purifiers.

"Having helmets ready for the entire family takes up a lot of space. They are cumbersome and you start storing them towards the back of the house, closet, or wherever you can store them. That means they'll be of no use in an emergency, and the ideal helmet is something that is compact and can be stored in a place that can be easily accessed so that you can quickly grab it and go, " says Mr. Hanato.

This water purifier is a straw-type purifier. Compact, easy to store, and convenient to carry around.

・Straw-type water purifier mizu-Q (2,415 yen)

For unsterilized water such as water from rivers, ponds, pools and leftover bath water, first pour in the included sterilization agent and stir.

After 2 minutes, use the straw-type water purifier to drink the water. Special filters filter out bacteria and germs so that you can drink clean, safe water.

Of course the smaller and lighter the items are, the more ideal they are in an emergency. What stood out most were emergency foods with appropriate portions to serve as a source of energy as well as high tech items that are becoming increasingly lighter and smaller and can be used in normal everyday use, and survival type disaster prevention goods that squeezes in functionality in a compact form.

No need for a kettle or fire. A box with an exothermic agent that can boil water. Convenient for making milk for babies and heating up retort food.

・Yu-wakashi BOX Basic set (2,079 yen)

A simply idea that we were amazed with is this simple toilet. By folding back the edges, it stands by itself eliminating the need for boxes or temporary toilets. The product is set on a western style toilet by using the dedicated cardboard.

・Pouch Toilet with Water Absorbing Sheet (4,410 yen)

A pocket size fuel tablet and dedicated stove. A great point about this product is that even with the high calorie flames, it doesn't generate any visible smoke.

・Esbit fuel tablets (525 yen)

・Esbit Pocket Stove (1,155 yen)