Disaster Management Minister Goshi Hosono said other countries may "come at" Japan during a major disaster, remarks that have drawn criticism that they could undermine international support. Hosono repeated the claim at a Nov. 6 press conference, saying compound disasters keep producing threats that cannot be anticipated.
At the Nov. 2 press conference marking the launch of the Disaster Management Agency, Hosono said a major earthquake, tsunami and nuclear accident could combine with a cyberattack or terrorism, and that such an event could be tied to a contingency — a wartime or security emergency. Asked about coordination with the Self-Defense Forces in light of the 2011 earthquake and nuclear accident, he said the world had changed and that the possibility of being "come at" had grown, without naming any country.
On Nov. 6 he said a quake directly under the capital would require mobilizing more than 100,000 SDF personnel, roughly 220,000 in all, and asked whether the remaining half could defend Japan.
Renho Murata, a Constitutional Democratic Party member of the House of Councillors who worked alongside Hosono as a senior adviser to the prime minister during the 2011 disaster, criticized the remarks on X. "These are words that someone in government must absolutely never say," she wrote, asking whether he had considered that countries that had helped Japan might stop helping it in future.
“When a large-scale disaster strikes, international support becomes a great source of strength.”Renho Murata, CDP member of the House of Councillors
Hosono's remarks came as the agency, a priority of former Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, began operations. The agency has been given the power to issue "emergency requests" to residents, local governments and ministries, and to issue recommendations if conditions do not improve.