The Disaster Agency (防災庁) was launched on November 2, and the police side is unhappy about it. For police officers who work disaster sites alongside the Self-Defense Forces during earthquakes and typhoons, the new agency is a coordinator, not a commander. It is not a rival looking over their shoulder.
But a former senior Police Agency official says the grievance runs elsewhere. "It is because the rank of the minister in charge of the police organization will fall again," he said.
Japan is called an earthquake country and a disaster country. In the past 15 years it has been hit by the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake, the Kumamoto earthquake 10 years ago, the Noto Peninsula earthquake two years ago, and another earthquake in Kumamoto Prefecture in July, a run of tremors reaching the maximum intensity of 7 on the Japanese scale.
Against that record, a ministry devoted to disaster prevention looks inevitable. Creating one was a long-held goal of former Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, but objections inside his party kept it from happening for years.
A convert in the top job
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi was once among the cautious voices. During a debate in the 2021 party leadership race, she said the Disaster Agency risked "creating a new set of vertical divisions" — the sectionalism that keeps ministries from working together.
Since taking office she has pushed the agency forward. "In our country, one of the world's leading disaster-prone nations, with a national-level disaster imminent, realizing a 'disaster prevention nation' that puts human life and human rights first is an urgent task," she said, according to the basic policy for promoting a disaster prevention nation.