Kyushu held its first simulation drill in January to practice evacuating residents from remote islands in Yakushima, Kagoshima Prefecture, amid heightened tension in the region and fears of an armed attack from another nation.
A similar drill for the Sakishima islands in Okinawa Prefecture will be conducted in March.
In the event of a contingency covered by the plan, all 11,700 residents from two islands within the town of Yakushima and a total of 120,000 residents and tourists from the Sakishima islands would be evacuated to the Kyushu mainland, but the prefectures that will accommodate them are almost completely unprepared.