It looks like there will be a J-Alert test broadcast over the disaster prevention speakers tomorrow, Wednesday, August 23, at 11:00 a.m.
Emergency alert radios will also suddenly start playing audio at the same time, so just be mentally prepared.
What is J-Alert?
J-Alert is Japan’s nationwide instant warning system.
Specifically, it is a system that instantly sends information from the national government to residents about situations where there is little time to respond, such as the following:
- Ballistic missile alerts
- Earthquake early warnings
- Tsunami warnings
Alerts are delivered through emergency alert emails sent to mobile phones, disaster prevention radio systems, and other channels.
Here’s what this J-Alert broadcast will sound like
The broadcast will go something like this:
“♪ (rising chime)
This is a J-Alert test. (Repeated three times)
This is Disaster Prevention Nishinomiya City. ♪ (falling chime)”
The broadcast will be sent through the following:
- Disaster prevention speakers (disaster prevention administrative radio system) installed at 147 locations around the city
- Sakura FM (emergency alert radio)
- Nishinomiya Disaster Prevention Net (email)
We’ve previously written articles about the disaster prevention speakers and emergency alert radios.
Finally
You often can’t hear the disaster prevention speakers when the windows are closed. If you have an emergency alert radio, as long as it can pick up the signal, it should sound properly and make you think, “Huh? Something unusual is going on.” They’re fairly affordable at 2,200 yen, so it might be worth buying one. List of places where they’re sold
