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This meeting was unprecedented in post-war Japan, the Asahi Shimbun reported, the first time the Japanese government has taken steps to instruct residents on how to prepare for enemy attacks.

In Yamagata prefecture, which extends to the Sea of Japan, plans are underway to conduct an evacuation drill as soon as possible.

In Akita prefecture to the north, Governor Norihisa Satake instructed his disaster management department to stay on alert around the clock this month.

To the south, in Fukui, the local government will have its staff stay on alert overnight Tuesday, in case of any provocations linked to the anniversary of the foundation of North Korea’s army.

In “Actions and Other Measures In Case of Falling of Ballistic Missile” posted on its website last week, Fukui’s prefectural government told citizens to “evacuate to a substantial building or underground shopping area” if they were outside, and to lie down under cover and away from windows if inside.

Japan has a system called “J-Alert” designed to broadcast information about an imminent missile attack to disaster management officials at the local level. Here’s how The Japan Times described the system:

Local governments will relay warnings via outdoor loudspeaker systems, emergency broadcast channels on cable TV, FM radio broadcasts and cellphone alerts. If you are outside when a warning is sounded or received, the government’s advice is to proceed calmly to the strongest concrete building you can quickly get to, or to go underground, if possible. Families in their homes are advised to stay low to the floor, take cover underneath tables and to stay away from glass windows.

But Osaka Mayor Hirofumi Yoshimura said that there would be almost no time to respond to a North Korean missile.

“A missile may not be detected as soon as it leaves the launch pad … and that could take several minutes,” he said, according to the Japan Times’ report. “Depending on the case, the warnings and alarms might only sound four or five minutes before a missile arrives.”