TOKYO — With tensions around Taiwan rising and North Korea firing missiles at a blistering pace, lawmakers in neighboring Japan are pushing for a rollout of shelters where its residents can take refuge in the event of an attack.
A bill laying out a schedule for shelter provision could be passed as soon as next fiscal year, Keiji Furuya, a ruling Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker and former minister for national resilience, said in an interview last week.
“Japan hasn’t been involved in a war for 77 years, but what we’ve taken for granted since then no longer holds true,” said Furuya, co-leader of a lawmakers’ group pushing for shelter provision. “The world has changed a lot,” he said in an interview with Bloomberg News.
