The core idea: a place is safe from something
The word at the centre of everything is hinan (避難), literally avoiding hardship: the first character means avoid, the second difficulty or disaster. Every evacuation term is built on it. And every evacuation place is designated for particular hazards, because no site is safe from all of them. An open park has nothing to fall on you in an earthquake and room to escape a fire, but it may be under water in a flood. A concrete school building on the same street may be the reverse.
So a Japanese sign answers three questions, and this article takes them in order: where to go, from which danger, and when. Where is the type of place and its name. From which danger is the row of hazards, each marked ○ or ×. When is the alert level announced by the weather agency and your municipality.
Where: hinan basho and hinanjo side by side
This is the pair learners confuse most, and the confusion is understandable: basho (場所) and jo (所) share the character for place, and English calls both shelters. The difference is time. A hinan basho is where you go to get out of danger now. A hinanjo is where you stay afterwards, when your home is damaged or unsafe to return to.
After the 2011 tsunami, when some people fled to shelters that were not safe from the water, the law was changed in 2013 to separate the two, and signs and maps now use the longer official names in the table. The same school may be both, one for its playground and one for its gym, or only one of them.
| Japanese | Romaji | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 避難場所は中央公園です。 | Hinan basho wa Chūō Kōen desu. | The evacuation site is Chūō Park. |
| 避難所は小学校の体育館です。 | Hinanjo wa shōgakkō no taiikukan desu. | The shelter is the primary school gym. |
| 避難所に泊まれますか。 | Hinanjo ni tomaremasu ka. | Can people stay overnight at the shelter? |
| 避難場所と避難所は違うんですか。 | Hinan basho to hinanjo wa chigau n desu ka. | Are an evacuation site and a shelter different things? |
| Term | Reading | What it is for | Typical place |
|---|---|---|---|
| 指定緊急避難場所 | shitei kinkyū hinan basho | Escaping immediate danger, designated per hazard | Park, school ground, sturdy building |
| 指定避難所 | shitei hinanjo | Staying when you cannot go home | School gym, community centre |
| 広域避難場所 | kōiki hinan basho | Wide open space safe from spreading fires | Large park |
| 津波避難ビル | tsunami hinan biru | Climbing above a tsunami where high ground is far | Designated hotel, flats or offices |
| 福祉避難所 | fukushi hinanjo | Shelter for people who need care | Care facility |
From which danger: the hazard row, ○ and ×
Newer signs follow a national standard from 2016 that sets each hazard's pictogram in a row, with ○, maru, where the site is suitable and ×, batsu, where it is not. Older signs vary, listing hazards in words or showing a general pictogram only.
The hazard names are worth learning as words, because they reappear in warnings and on the hazard map. Most are transparent once split: kōzui (洪水) is literally vast water, dosha saigai (土砂災害), literally earth-and-sand disaster, covers landslides and debris flows, and takashio (高潮), literally high tide, is a storm surge.
| Japanese | Romaji | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| この近くの避難場所はどこですか。 | Kono chikaku no hinan basho wa doko desu ka. | Where's the nearest evacuation site? |
| ここは洪水のときも使えますか。 | Koko wa kōzui no toki mo tsukaemasu ka. | Can this place be used in a flood too? |
| 洪水のときはどこに避難すればいいですか。 | Kōzui no toki wa doko ni hinan sureba ii desu ka. | Where should I go in a flood? |
| この看板のバツはどういう意味ですか。 | Kono kanban no batsu wa dō iu imi desu ka. | What does the cross on this sign mean? |
| Hazard | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 洪水 | kōzui | River flooding |
| 内水氾濫 | naisui hanran | Flooding when drains and small channels overflow |
| 土砂災害 | dosha saigai | Landslides and debris flows as a group |
| 高潮 | takashio | Storm surge |
| 地震 | jishin | Earthquake |
| 大規模な火事 | daikibo na kaji | Large fire spreading through a district |
Tsunami buildings and the running-man sign
In coastal towns, a tsunami hinan biru (津波避難ビル) is a sturdy building, often a hotel, block of flats or school, designated as a place to climb to where high ground is far away. Its sign shows a figure climbing a building above a wave. Some towns also build towers, tsunami hinan tawā.
Indoors, the green running man is the hijōguchi (非常口) sign, literally emergency mouth, designed in Japan around 1980 and later adopted as the international standard. Its two versions are easy to confuse. A green sign with a white figure marks the exit door itself; a white sign with a green figure and an arrow marks the route to it. Note too that hijōguchi is not the everyday exit, deguchi: it may open onto a fire stair, hijō kaidan, rather than the street.
| Japanese | Romaji | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 非常口はどこですか。 | Hijōguchi wa doko desu ka. | Where's the emergency exit? |
| 非常階段はどこにありますか。 | Hijō kaidan wa doko ni arimasu ka. | Where are the emergency stairs? |
| 津波避難ビルはどこですか。 | Tsunami hinan biru wa doko desu ka. | Where's the tsunami evacuation building? |
| このホテルは津波避難ビルですか。 | Kono hoteru wa tsunami hinan biru desu ka. | Is this hotel a tsunami evacuation building? |
| 何階以上に上がればいいですか。 | Nankai ijō ni agareba ii desu ka. | How many floors up do we need to go? |
When: the five alert levels
The third question is answered by keikai reberu (警戒レベル), literally caution level, a five-step scale for rain-related disasters: floods, landslides and storm surges. It does not cover earthquakes or tsunami, whose warnings are the subject of the post on earthquake alerts.
Two bodies speak on this ladder, and that is the key to reading it. The Japan Meteorological Agency, kishōchō, issues weather information at every level, from an early notice at 1 to an emergency warning at 5. Your municipality, shichōson, issues evacuation information at levels 3 to 5. The agency's levels 3 to 5 are described as equivalent, sōtō (相当), to the municipal ones; the evacuation call for a named area comes from the city, town or village.
| Japanese | Romaji | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 川辺地区に警戒レベル4、避難指示を発令しました。 | Kawabe chiku ni keikai reberu yon, hinan shiji o hatsurei shimashita. | A level 4 evacuation instruction has been issued for the Kawabe district. |
| 危険な場所にいる人は全員避難してください。 | Kiken na basho ni iru hito wa zen'in hinan shite kudasai. | Everyone in a dangerous place, please evacuate. |
| 高齢者等避難を発令しました。 | Kōreisha-tō hinan o hatsurei shimashita. | An evacuation of older people and others has been issued. |
| 直ちに身の安全を確保してください。 | Tadachi ni mi no anzen o kakuho shite kudasai. | Secure your safety immediately. |
| 避難指示を解除しました。 | Hinan shiji o kaijo shimashita. | The evacuation instruction has been lifted. |
| 避難指示、出たって。 | Hinan shiji, deta tte. | Apparently an evacuation instruction's been issued. (casual) |
Beyond the basics: the words that changed
Older textbooks and older neighbours may use terms that no longer exist. Until 2021, level 4 had two names, hinan kankoku (避難勧告), evacuation advisory, and hinan shiji, and many people waited for the second. Hinan kankoku was abolished so that level 4 would have one unmistakable name, and levels 3 and 5 were renamed at the same time.
The weather agency's names changed on 29 May 2026. Warnings now carry their level, as in reberu san ōame keihō, level 3 heavy-rain warning; a new level 4 kiken keihō, danger warning, replaced older terms; and river flood warnings now use hanran (氾濫), overflowing. One more neighbour: volcanoes have a separate five-step scale, funka keikai reberu, with its own keywords, so do not read its numbers against this ladder.
| Old term | Reading | Now | Changed |
|---|---|---|---|
| 避難勧告 | hinan kankoku | Abolished; hinan shiji is the only level 4 term | 2021 |
| 避難準備・高齢者等避難開始 | hinan junbi, kōreisha-tō hinan kaishi | Kōreisha-tō hinan, level 3 | 2021 |
| 災害発生情報 | saigai hassei jōhō | Kinkyū anzen kakuho, level 5 | 2021 |
| 大雨警報 | ōame keihō | Reberu san ōame keihō | 2026 |
| 洪水警報 | kōzui keihō | Reberu san hanran keihō, or a heavy-rain warning | 2026 |
| 土砂災害警戒情報 | dosha saigai keikai jōhō | Reberu yon dosha saigai kiken keihō | 2026 |
Asking where to go: questions for an ordinary day
The best time to ask is before you need to. Ward and city offices hand out hazard maps, often in several languages, and neighbourhood associations run drills where the local site is pointed out. Office staff answer in polite desu and masu with a little keigo; neighbours may answer casually.
| Japanese | Romaji | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| ハザードマップはどこでもらえますか。 | Hazādo mappu wa doko de moraemasu ka. | Where can I get a hazard map? |
| 区役所の窓口でお配りしています。 | Kuyakusho no madoguchi de okubari shite imasu. | We hand them out at the ward office counter. (staff) |
| 英語のハザードマップはありますか。 | Eigo no hazādo mappu wa arimasu ka. | Is there a hazard map in English? |
| うちの地区の避難所はどこですか。 | Uchi no chiku no hinanjo wa doko desu ka. | Where's the shelter for my district? |
| ペットと一緒に避難できますか。 | Petto to issho ni hinan dekimasu ka. | Can I evacuate with my pet? |
| 避難情報はどうやって知ることができますか。 | Hinan jōhō wa dō yatte shiru koto ga dekimasu ka. | How can I find out about evacuation information? |
Common mistakes with evacuation words and signs
Treating hinanjo and hinan basho as one place. The cause is the shared character for place and English that calls both shelters. Read the full name on the sign and the ○ and × row beneath it.
Following the running-man exit sign to find the evacuation site. Both are green with a running figure, but hijōguchi signs lead out of a building and say nothing about where to go next. The outdoor signs with a site name belong to a different system.
Waiting for hinan kankoku, or for level 5. Older materials still teach hinan kankoku, which no longer exists, and level 5 sounds like the final call to leave. Official materials describe it instead as a stage at which disaster may already be happening, and print the line keikai reberu yon made ni kanarazu hinan, evacuate by level 4.
Assuming a level 4 danger warning and a level 4 evacuation instruction are the same announcement. The shared number causes it. One is the weather agency's assessment, the other your municipality's call for named areas; knowing which you heard tells you whose information to check next.