Climate change impacts
In towns and cities, rises in temperature as a consequence of urbanization have been compounded by global warming in recent years. As a result, the number of heat stroke cases has increased, and the impact on health and the economy have become more pronounced. It is a concern that further global warming will exacerbate these problems. In 2019, the number of foreign visitors to Japan increased by 2.2% from the previous year to 31,880,000 people (7,780,000 people between July and September), making it important to keep foreign tourists and other non-Japanese speakers informed, in easy-to-understand language, of ways to avoid heat stroke, what to do if symptoms develop, and advise them to take prompt action.
Adaptation activity
The Japan Tourism Agency’s “Safety Tips”, which went live in October 2014 (see Note 1), is an emergency information app for foreign tourists. It is a push-enabled service that can be used for earthquake, tsunami, and other extreme weather warnings in Japan (Note 2). In addition, evacuation information provides advice on what action to take according to the particular conditions, a translation function can be used for communicating in Japanese, and a links page provides connections to other sources of emergency information. Initially, the app was only available in English, but in March 2020 it was expanded to 14 languages.
Since March 2017, information on heat stroke and medical facilities that accept foreign patients has also been provided. As of 2019, approximately 1,970 hospitals and clinics provide medical assistance in foreign languages.
In addition, in order to increase access to more tourists visiting Japan, the Japan Tourism Agency has released a Safety Tips API that allows other applications to share Safety Tips information. Using this API (Note 3), businesses hoping to provide an emergency information service can use the Safety Tips application without having to develop a system from scratch. The Japan National Tourism Organization’s "Japan Official Travel App" is a case in point.
Outputs / Expected benefits
At the Global Summit of the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) held in Seville, Spain, in April 2019, Japan received the WTTC Global Champion Award for work in disaster prevention, crisis-management and reconstruction. Disaster-response measures, such as multilingual emergency information services for foreign visitors and ex-pats, including Safety Tips, were highly regarded.
Footnote
(Note 1) Safety tips for travelers（https://www.jnto.go.jp/safety-tips/eng/index.html）
Download URL
・Android :https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=jp.co.rcsc.safetyTips.android
・iPhone :https://itunes.apple.com/jp/app/safety-tips/id858357174?mt=8
(Note 2) Push-enabled notification refers to a system in which data and content are automatically transmitted to the user's device.
(Note 3) Application Programming Interface, i.e. a program specialized in one function that can be shared with other programs, or a system that allows the sharing of software functions.
