I have been reading this and similar sites for a while now trying to research the subject of prepping and have come across some great links, ideas, articles and information. I think the time has come to join up, post what i am prepping for and get some valuable feedback. I recently graduated university where i studied Japanese. I have a spent a few years in Japan and my other half is Japanese. Now this is where the prepping comes in, i will be returning to Japan in a year and i want to be prepared for any likely disasters natural and man made. Your might be wondering why i have signed up to a UK based forum rather than Japanese. Well i am in process of gathering my kit in the UK and it seemed to make sense to sign up here and learn what tips i can and or suppliers i could use before i leave. Id love to hear your thoughts and advice on any kit you deem essential, things i should bin, take more of etc.
Prepping for what?
Ok so what would i be prepping for? Well as you are all aware Japan is basically a disaster waiting to happen. The Tohoku Earthquake and resulting Tsunami and nuclear disaster only reinforces this. The most likely disaster to hit Japan would be a large earthquake. In Tokyo where i have spent much of my time they are almost a daily occurrence but it only takes a big one such as the Great Hanshin Earthquake in Kobe and Osaka and the Tohoku quake to bring about chaos. From my research it seems fairly common knowledge Tokyo is due for a big one. The side effects of an earthquake are pretty unpredictable, it could be anything from burst water or gas mains, power loss, tsunami, landslides, buildings coming down or in the worse case some kind of nuclear incident. Due to the geography of Japan many of its major population centres are near or on the coast, again reinforcing the issue of tsunami. And again the majority of Japan’s power is nuclear based, so some nbc preparation would be essential. Typhoons are also a major issue but i will come to that later.
The location
Japan is in a rather precarious position in regards to global politics. Its military whilst technologically on par with the west and no doubt highly trained has little experience and is very small. If you remember from the North Korea nuclear threats earlier this year Japan was quick to deploy its Aegis anti missile destroyers and move Patriot batteries to Tokyo, which was reassuring but they are little more than a defence force. Japan’s position as the gateway to the pacific and south east Asia means the US has numerous bases across the country to keeps tabs on the (during the cold war)the Russians, (more realistically now) the Chinese and North Koreans. There is a whole US carrier fleet based in Japan which as we have seen from history is tasked with providing security for Taiwan, South Korea and Japan, in my opinion this makes Japan a viable target if any conflict arose. Japan its self has on going disputes with China and Korea over various islands which have become rather heated in the past and saw Japan scrambling fighter aircraft for the first time since the cold war. Whilst the possibility of a military conflict is significantly less than a natural disaster i am trying to keep it in mind whilst prepping.
Weather
I really need to consider weather. If any of this happens during summer prolonged humping
with gear would get very tiring. Typical summers in south and central Japan see stupidly high humidity with temperatures topping 40degrees c. However there is a month long rainy season in summer where you can expect stupid humidity, daily rainfall and storms. Japanese spring is similar to a British summer. Autumn perhaps comparable to a British springs. Winter is very dry and generally colder than the UK. Of course these vary depending where you are in Japan. Whilst on the subject of weather Typhoons hit Japan every year without fail. Generally those further south are at more risk. I have not seen Typhoons any further north than Tokyo and normally they wear themselves out by the time they reach Japan BUT whilst been in Japan i have had to Bug In and take days off work and uni due to these storms. But with today's weather forecasting technology there is ample time to prepare for a Typhoon. My goal
My real goal would be for my mrs and I to survive the first 48 or 72 hours of a disaster. In my opinion this is the amount of time it would take for a mobilization of emergency aid, military or time required to reach a Bug Out location. Its not supposed to be a live in the mountains for weeks type kit but rather enough kit to keep us going more comfortably than the average joe, out doors or in,by foot, road or rail until either the emergency services supplement what we have or we can reach a Bug Out location. The question of whether in Bug Out or Bug In is difficult. For a quake other than during the actual quake itself we would be bugging out to whatever that area/regions muster area is. For Tsunami we would defiantly be bugging out...sharpish! Nuclear disaster, prevailing and local winds would be taken into account before a choice was made. Typhoons again are a difficult one to call, Bugging in may be the best and is what i have done before. For the unlikely event of military action I'm not sure, non nuclear conflict including Biological I think Bug In would be the best option. If international tensions rose to the stage nuclear conflict was imminent i would want to Bug Out. Where would we bug out too? Well for natural disasters the government/local councils designates safe zones and muster points. These would be our first port of call. Until I return to Japan and know where we will be living for sure its difficult to say where we would go in other situations. But something i would like to do in the future is find a Bug Out location which could be further stockpiled. But for now the main goal is being prepared for this first 48 and at a push 72 hours. I don't want to see the news and be packing cases i would want us to grab this kit and be off.
The kit!
Ive decided to do almost a stage kind of system. Rather than have all my eggs in one basket or having to hump more than i need to i want to break it down and keep things to a minimum, keeping light is a key for me.
Things to be kept on person at all times when out of the house.
This is more of a common sense thing rather than anything else which applys to the mrs and I.
-Medical Insurance card with Allergies & Blood types (no NHS over there haha!)
-Keep phones charged and on.
-Small bottle or sachets of sunblock for summer/Chemical hand warmers for winter
-3M N95 style mask
-Enough cash to get home Asap.
-Keep train cards charged.
-Prepaid phone card for land lines
-Anti bacterial hand gel.
-Plasters.
-Roll up flat plimsolls (for the mrs)
-smokes & zippo (me haha)
It sounds a lot to carry with you 24/7 but if you are going to work or shopping no doubt you will have a handbag or brief case etc so they are not that space consuming or heavy.
Immediate Survival -No Warning Situation, Quake etc
For this I want to use my British Army PLCE webbing which i bought for airsoft a while back. Ofcourse i cant take this everywhere with me as i would look like a t*t but it would be my grab bag for no warning type situations at home or from the car. For example wake up in the night and there is a huge quake. Grab this and the mrs & get under the table!
-Mini Maglite - LED with push button mod.
-Small Multitool/Pen knife
-Long life glow sticks x2
-Small first aid pack with Pack of tissues
-Foil blanket x2
-Whistle
-Spare pre-paid mobile phone fully charged
-The smallest hand crank radio i can find.
-Depending on season Chemical hand warmers or Sunscreen sachets
-3M N95 style mask x 2
-Water Bottle 58 pattern
-Dextro Energy Tablets x2 pack
-Seven Oceans Survival Biscuits 500g x2
-Seven Oceans Drinking Water Ration 0.5l x4
Bug out Bag – Assuming we have survived any immediate threat or there is a potential incoming threat
For this I want to use the British Army N.I patrol pack or the Dutch Army Patrol pack. The idea being it would be used in combination with the PLCE. I imagine from many peoples point of view it seems like what normally would be in the PLCE is in the BOB and vis-versa. But for me its about adapting them to my use not how the army uses them now.
-Important Documents including Passports & Cash
-More medical supplies to supplement smaller first aid kits including prescription medication, scissors, manual, vitamin tabs etc.
-Radiation Detector (the credit card size jobby)
-Potassium Iodide tablets
-Fire steel
-Lighter
-Flare x2
-Entrenching tool with pouch so it can be moved to PLCE if necessary.
-Hygiene Kit - including tissues, anti bacterial wipes/gel etc
-BCB Survival Tin or similar home made jobby - for those little bits and bobs you know your going to regret not having.
-Insect repellent - mozzys love my British blood!:D
-Depending on season Chemical hand warmers or Sunscreen sachets
-Long life Glow sticks x2
-Leather man multitool
-Water Sterilisation Tablets
-Collapsible water carrier (not sure on size yet)
-Mess tins
-Cup 58 Pattern + Brew kit (you can take Englishman out of England....
)-Eating utensil
-Hexi stove with at least 8 Hexi tabs
-Day Ration Pack 3000 Kcal x 2 or Japanese shop bought equivalent
-Seven Oceans Survival Biscuits 500g x2
-Seven Oceans Drinking Water Ration 0.5l x2
-Para cord (not sure on how much yet)
-Poncho
-British Army Individual Protection Kit
-lightweight sleeping bag
-Mosquito net
-3M N95 Mask x 1
-Gaffer tape/Duct tape
-Head torch
-Spare batteries for maglites and head torch
Bug out Bag for the Mrs.
Hey why should i have to carry everything?
For the mrs was thinking of the British army rocket packs. Shes only little and has confirmed the extra support from the plce yoke rather than just a normal back pack would be welcome. Plus there is always the versatility of adding or subtracting a pack without emptying and repacking contents. The idea is her kit complements the main Bug out Bag by spreading the load. Of course id want us to be together at all times because most of the gear is in my BOB but assuming we did get split up she would need to be able to survive too, it would be silly for one of us to carry all the food and the other all the shelter. There are so many variables to this prepping business its a nightmare! -Mace spray/bear repellant/taser (yet to be decided which) - Ok this may seem silly but if Sh*t does Hit the fan i don't want her to be a victim of some chap who wants his final fling or some one eying up her gear. There are some odd fellows in Japan, you may have heard of 'Chikan' the train gropers and I would want her to be able to protect herself if i was not around.
-Whistle
-3M N95 Mask x 1
-Mini maglite LED
-Long life Glow sticks x2
-Small first aid kit
-Hygiene Kit
-Small multi tool
-Seven Oceans Survival Biscuits 500g x2
-Seven Oceans Drinking Water Ration 0.5l x2
-Poncho
-British Army Individual Protection Kit
-lightweight sleeping bag
-Mosquito net
-Whatever else she deems vital for her survival if we we separated.
NBC/CRBN - Ok our local power station just melted down due to a quake & tsunami, we are under the fall out area and need to bug out to a decontamination area or similar, basically Fukushima all over again.
I have the following for this eventuality. Some of the items are just out of date but from my understanding the charcoal lining is more for the chemical side of things?
-British Army NBC suit x 2
-British Army NBC gloves x 2 pair
-British Army NBC Over boots x 2 pair
-1 copy of 'Survive to Fight' which details the correct use of above kit.
-I really want a pair of S10 or the civilian equivalent (fm-12?) gas masks with at least
2 spare filters each BUT i would want to do this properly with a proper fitting session
and ideally buying new.
-Radiation detector and Potassium Iodide tablets would be in the BOB
Ok I guess that's most of what i thought of. I only own a small amount of this so far but i have a year to get it together and wanted some feed back before i start laying out the cash. I really didn't want duplicates of stuff other than things that obviously cant be shared such as ponchos etc. The idea of combining the Poncho and Individual protection kit for simple shelter and ground mats appeals to me. Clothing is a difficult one, i don't want to carry loads and it depends on the season and when or what kind of event happens...I guess one change of dry cloths is vital but again im worried about weight.
It appears we are lacking water and food but i class those as a separate thing. The water and food mentioned in the lists above is the minimum needed for the time i want to be bugging out, basically the minimum to survive. This may sound silly but Japan has vending machines literally every 50 yards. With Convenience stores dotted in between. The urban sprawl of Japanese city's goes on for miles so depending how we were traveling and where too running out of consumables would not be a problem in my opinion, even taking into account panic buying. But please don't think what i mentioned above is all i would take, ideally i would want any spare space in the bags filled with water and consumables from home stocks whilst keeping to a manageable weight.
Thank you for reading.
Again Id love to hear your thoughts and advice on any kit you deem essential to add, things i could bin or general advice.
