Latest news with #SphereStandards
Asahi Shimbun
16-07-2025
- Politics
- Asahi Shimbun
Ishiba seeking to cut down lines for women's public restrooms
Women form a long line for a public restroom at the metropolitan Yoyogi Park in Tokyo's Shibuya Ward on April 12. (Tomoko Yamashita) Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba has decided to make a serious effort to solve the problem of women constantly facing long lines for public restrooms due to a lack of facilities. The central government's 'basic policies for economic and fiscal management and reform,' approved by the Cabinet in June, clearly states the need to improve the circumstances surrounding women's restrooms. Aiming to eliminate gender-based inequity in restroom issues is one of Ishiba's key measures. A liaison meeting of related ministries and agencies was held on July 9 where it was decided to issue a notice to organizers of large-scale events requesting that they ensure there are sufficient temporary bathrooms for women. Unlike men's restrooms that rarely see crowding, it is typical for women to expect a line for the women's restroom when going out for the day. According to Manami Momose, the total number of male toilets, including urinals, at 907 locations nationwide as of June 22 was 1.73 times that of toilets in women's restrooms. Locations tallied included train stations and commercial facilities. Momose is an administrative scrivener who embarked on a project to determine the number of public toilets and urinals by gender after being stuck in line many times. On the other hand, the number of women's toilets exceeded that of men's toilets at only 46 locations. Ishiba's thinking on the issue is based on the 'Sphere Standards' established by the International Red Cross and other organizations for disaster shelters, according to officials. It is estimated that women require three times the amount of time men need in a restroom, and the Sphere Standards specifies the minimum number of toilets required in a disaster as 1:3 for men and women. If this were applied to public and commercial facilities in Japan, the number of women's toilets nationwide would need to be greatly increased from the current amount. According to government officials, Ishiba's attention to the issue was piqued when Takanori Yokosawa, an Upper House lawmaker of the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, raised it during a meeting of the Upper House Committee on Audit on June 9. Learning that the government had no measures to deal with the problem, the prime minister began to talk to those around him, asking if something could be done. Definitively bringing about a significant increase in the number of women's toilets is not likely to happen overnight, however. The transport ministry, which has jurisdiction over restrooms at train stations and airports, is not aware of the actual number of men's and women's toilets, according to a ministry official, and specific measures for their maintenance are still under consideration. The ministries and agencies that have jurisdiction over toilets vary depending on their location. Therefore, it is necessary to establish a cross-governmental system. A senior government official said, 'A large amount of budgetary support, including subsidies for maintenance costs, will be necessary.' (This article was written by Tatsuya Harada and Kei Kobayashi.)
Yomiuri Shimbun
11-06-2025
- Politics
- Yomiuri Shimbun
Japan Seeks to Cut Nankai Trough Earthquake Deaths by 80 percent; Disaster Plan Revisions Also Aim to Halve Property Damage
Yomiuri Shimbun file photo The Prime Minister's Office in Tokyo The government aims to reduce by 80% the number of deaths caused by collapsed houses and other direct damage from a massive earthquake along the Nankai Trough, according to a draft for a basic disaster prevention promotion plan the government will revise based on the latest damage estimates for a magnitude-8 to -9 earthquake. It also seeks to halve the number of houses destroyed by such a quake. In the draft for the revised plan seen by The Yomiuri Shimbun, the government will set numerical targets for 134 priority measures, with the aim to achieve them within 10 years. This will be the first fundamental revision of the plan, which was established in 2014. In March, the government released a report that put the estimated death toll from direct damage at up to 298,000 in the event of a massive earthquake along the trough, which extends from off Shizuoka Prefecture to Miyazaki Prefecture. It also estimated that 52,000 people would die indirectly from the disaster and 2.35 million houses would be destroyed. Massive earthquakes in this region along the trough have been documented with an average recurrence period of about 100 to 150 years. The government has estimated that if a Nankai Trough quake occurs, 707 cities, towns and villages in 29 prefectures could be hit by a strong tremor or large tsunami. The government's Earthquake Research Committee has said the probability of a magnitude-8 or -9 megaquake occurring in the Nankai Trough within the next 30 years is 'around 80%.' The revised disaster prevention promotion plan is scheduled to be approved at a meeting of the Central Disaster Management Council as early as July. According to the draft, the government will emphasize the revision will focus on measures to 'protect and sustain the lives of people' based on the new damage estimates. These measures will concentrate on preventing direct deaths, and will include such steps as raising the completion rate for sea embankments with sufficient height to withstand tsunami to 50% in 2030, up from 42% in 2023. Many volunteer firefighters died while closing floodgates at the time of the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake, and the revised plan will state that measures will be promoted to operate floodgates automatically and remotely. The percentage of social welfare facilities with brick walls resistant to earthquakes will also be increased to 53% in 2030 from 20% in 2022. Among measures to maintain lifelines, the proportion of important facilities with water and sewerage systems that have undergone quake-resistance work will be increased to 32% in 2030, up from 12% in 2023. Deaths from indirect causes were prominent in the 2016 Kumamoto Earthquake and the 2024 Noto Peninsula Earthquake. To help prevent this, the government aims to ensure that all municipalities satisfy the Sphere Standards — a set of internationally recognized principles and minimum humanitarian standards in four areas of response, including shelter and settlement — by 2030. The government's steps will include securing equipment such as portable beds.
