News room

ITOKI CORPORATION (Head office: Chuo-ku, Tokyo; President: Koji Minato) will exhibit at RISCON TOKYO 2025, the Crisis Management Industry Exhibition, to be held at Tokyo Big Sight from Wednesday, October 1st to Friday, October 3rd, 2025.

In Japan, a country prone to natural disasters, the importance of building shelters in preparation for natural disasters and emergencies is growing year by year, and discussions are underway to popularize them, with the "Parliamentary League for Promoting Shelters (Strong Evacuation Facilities) and Underground Use" being launched in 2022. Going forward, it is expected that shelters will also be built in public spaces such as municipal facilities, making them a familiar topic.

This year's first Shelter Zone will feature 11 participating companies showcasing cutting-edge technologies, materials, and services related to underground evacuation facilities and nuclear shelters. Itoki will be showcasing its BOUNCEBACK multi-purpose disaster prevention shelter door, which was announced last fall.

Over the past half century, our company has delivered approximately 3,000 special doors to advanced medical and research facilities in Japan, and has responded to a wide variety of requests and conditions with reliable quality backed by its technology.The multi-disaster prevention shelter door "BOUNCEBACK" introduced here has disaster prevention and defense functions that are shock-resistant, airtight, watertight, and radiation-shielding, and protects and isolates human lives and data equipment, which are the foundation of social life, from various threats such as natural disasters and terrorism.

As the security environment surrounding Japan becomes increasingly severe, prefectural governors and mayors of designated cities are currently designating evacuation facilities in cooperation with relevant local governments, etc., in accordance with the Civil Protection Act.

The Cabinet Secretariat, in cooperation with relevant ministries and agencies, is promoting the designation of emergency temporary evacuation facilities (sturdy concrete buildings and underground facilities) that are effective as temporary evacuation destinations to mitigate direct damage from blasts and other factors in the event of a missile attack, etc., as a five-year intensive effort period from 2021 to 2025. As of April 1, 2024, there are 58,589 emergency temporary evacuation facilities, of which 3,926 are underground facilities (buildings where evacuation to the underground is possible). (*)

Even in the private sector, an increasing number of individuals and companies are considering setting up underground shelters, and in Japan, where natural disasters are common, underground shelters are said to be effective in the event of earthquakes, typhoons, and other natural disasters, and their usefulness is attracting attention.

- Made in Japan, with world-leading shock resistance, airtightness, watertightness and radiation shielding performance
BOUNCEBACK is a completely Japanese product, with everything from planning and design to parts procurement and assembly completed in Japan. The explosion-proof structure based on simulation and FEM analysis has an impact resistance of 400kN/m2, and the 2-way hinge provides airtightness of 2m3/m2 h (when pressure difference is 10kPa) and watertightness of 0.03m3/m2 h (when water head is 10M). The maze-shaped handle shaft eliminates shielding defects and provides radiation shielding equivalent to 200mm of ordinary concrete.

・Even though it weighs approximately 1.4 tons, the opening, closing and tightening system is easy for women and children to use.
The door weighs approximately 1.4 tons and is equipped with high-performance hinges and has been installed with high precision, so that even women and children can open and close it smoothly without feeling its weight.

・Six safety measures to ensure peace of mind even in emergencies
Features include an integrated door opening/closing bar to prevent grabs at the edge, a safety cover at the base that prevents hands and fingers from getting caught, floor clearance that prevents shoes from getting caught, a 2-way hinge that opens to the frame when the handle is operated, a round, flat handle (spokeless handle) with no gaps or protrusions that will not catch hands or debris, and a handle lock mechanism that cannot be operated when the door is open. It can be operated safely even in the confusion of an emergency, preventing secondary accidents such as injuries.

Press release: https://www.itoki.jp/company/news/2024/0930_shelter/

*Regarding the updated list of evacuation facilities from the Cabinet Secretariat: https://www.kokuminhogo.go.jp/pdf/2024_hinanDB.pdf