While no one wants to dwell on the thought of impending disaster, prudent planning can give you piece of mind knowing that you have prepared your family or company as well as possible.This page offers some resources of use in disaster preparedness.

Please choose a topic below to continue.

• Personal Safety Information

• Advice for Parents

• The Latest Worldwide Public Announcement from the Department of State.

• Earthquake preparedness information.

• Typhoon Tips.

• Tips on the new security guidelines for flights into and within the U.S.

• Sign up for our free email newsletter on safety and security issues.

• How to Call for an Ambulance in Japan

• Protecting Yourself Against Identity Fraud.

• Anthrax

• Online Resources

• Rumors

• Bomb Threats

We continue to strongly recommend all Americans review their personal safety precautions, and that organizations associated with the American community should implement heightened security measures.Many callers to the Embassy have asked for advice on how to prepare and protect themselves.

An excellent source of specific things you can do to enhance your or your organization's security is available online from the Overseas Security Advisory Council (OSAC), established by the U.S. Department of State in 1985 to foster the exchange of information between American companies with overseas operations and the U.S. Government.

Specifically, you may wish to review the following OSAC documents:

• Security Guidelines for American Families Living Abroad

• Security Guidelines for American Enterprises Abroad

• Emergency Planning Guidelines for American Businesses Abroad

• Security Awareness Overseas - An Overview

• Guidelines for Protecting U.S. Business Information Overseas

• Personal Security Guidelines for the American Business Traveler Overseas

• Security Guidelines for Children Living Abroad

Please also take a look at our tips on the new security guidelines for flights into and within the U.S.

In the Tokyo area, two facilities can assist with anthrax-related testing and care should it become necessary:

Keio University Hospital
Tel. 03-3353-1211, in Shinjuku

National Medical Center Hospital
(Kokuritsu Iryou Center)
1-21-1, Toyama-cho, Shinjuku-ku
Tel: 3202-7181
(Shinjuku Sta., Shin-Ohkubo Sta., or Waseda Sta.)

Both hospitals are capable of culturing a person and providing medication, both Cipro or doxycycline if the person is allergic to Cipro. These antibiotics are available in Japan, but by prescription only.

Here are some additional resources if you'd like to learn more about anthrax:

• Fact Sheet on Chemical and Biological Agents from the Department of State.

• Responding to a Biological or Chemical Threat (requires Adobe Acrobat to view; download the free software).

• How to Handle Anthrax and other Biological Agent Threats from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).Specifically addresses how to handle suspicious mail and packages.

• General Information on Anthrax from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC)

• Anthrax as a Biological Weapon from the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA)

• Department of State Travel Warnings

• You can download Mailroom Training Modules, to help train your mailroom staff on how to respond to an anthrax threat in a mail center.

• The U.S. Postal Service in mid-November 2001 sent a postcard with tips on recognizing suspect mail to every postal customer in the U.S.Persons living overseas did not get this card, but you can read it here.

• The Postal Service also has available a poster offering hints to mail room workers on spotting and handling suspicious mail.

Sign up for our free email list. You will receive by email our public announcements on safety and security issues in Japan (this service is also known as the "warden system").

Just type your email address into the box below and click "Subscribe"

• Terrorism:Preparing for the Unexpected, an online pamphlet produced by the American Red Cross.

• Personal Safety publications from the Department of State's Office of Diplomatic Security.

• Creating a Comprehensive Emergency Procedures Manual for Overseas Schools from the Department of State's Overseas Schools Advisory Council. (requires Adobe Acrobat to view; download the free software).

• General travel and safety information, from the Federal Aviation Administration.

• Updated airline safety information, also from the Federal Aviation Administration.

• The Department of State offers eleven electronic subscription services, including the Secretary of State's speeches and testimony, State Department Travel Warnings, and the daily press briefings. To subscribe, register online at www.state.gov/www/listservs_cms.html.

Many people have contacted the Embassy in relation to rumors and threats they have heard.In any instance where you believe a threat exists, please contact the Japanese police, who are able to assist in such matters where the Embassy cannot.The Embassy has no police powers and cannot investigate suspicious persons or activities.

Information of value to law enforcement agencies in the U.S. should be reported to the Embassy's Regional Security Office at 03-3224-5583.

In addition, we ask all Americans to examine each rumor/ threat/concern with a critical eye.

Letters sent to Americans from Brunei (which caused many people to fear that the envelopes contained anthrax) were mailed to customers of Global Healthcare.Global confirms that they contracted to send the letters to its customers, and the mailing firm routed the mailings through Brunei.The envelopes have the former Global address covered with the Brunei return address stamp/label, which refers to a "Lockbox #8" in Brunei.

Global can be reached in Japan at 06-4706-7701.Persons with different envelopes or other concerns about mail should contact the Japanesepolice.

In addition, concerns that caused one Tokyo international school to close appear to be localized versions of an Internet "urban myth" that involved a person being "tipped off" to a terrorist action by a Middle Eastern friend.You can read the Internet version at www.snopes2.com/rumors/warning.htm.

It is not our intent to respond to every rumor overheard; rather, we offer these two specific examples to suggest how misinformation may spread, and to encourage Americans to carefully evaluate information they receive before acting on it.

Telephonic bomb threats were received by an American company and an international press office in Japan. The threats were delivered in English and gave a specific time for the bomb to detonate. These threats proved to be hoaxes. In each instance the Japanese police responded and, with the company and building management, evacuated the threatened buildings.

Police can be contacted by phone anywhere in Japan by dialing 110 (cell phone users may need to dial the local police station directly). Employees and family members should be able to report threats to the police in Japanese if possible. You may wish to prepare a "fill-in-the-blanks" script ("I wish to report a bomb threat received at (time) ---- by our company") in romanized Japanese that could be read into the phone by a non-Japanese speaker in an emergency.

The Embassy advises all U.S. enterprises to review procedures for receiving and assessing bomb threats, and to prepare contingency plans for such threats. Information on how to prepare for and react to bomb threats is available online as Security Guidelines for American Enterprises Abroad.