Japanese people buy own nuclear bunkers amid North Korea threat
Seiichiro Nishimoto, CEO of Shelter Co., poses wearing a gas mask at a model room for the company's nuclear shelters in the basement of his house in Osaka, Japan April 26, 2017. (Reuters Photo)


Japan has been preparing for possible evacuations as Kim Jong Un continues to use nuclear weapons as a means of threatening the world.

Shelter Co., a small company that specializes in building nuclear shelters, built a model bunker in the basement of the house of its CEO Seiichiro Nishimoto in Osaka.

According to company officials, the demand and sales of nuclear bunkers have been on the rise over the past months, as more and more people prepare for the worst in the ongoing North Korea crisis.

The model bunker house in Osaka, contains everything one can image to ensure the survival of its residents, including gas masks, a blast door, emergency foods and even a radiation-blocking air purifier in the case of a power outage.

Shelter Co.'s CEO Nishimoto told Japan Today that the company received over 200 requests for information over the past month.

"Although up until now we've sold about five or six shelters a year, in April alone we've sold eight so far. And our answerphone's recorded over 100 inquiries. We can't handle them all," he said.

Adding that the company's customer base had also changed, he stated that instead of previous customers like medical doctors and science fiction fans, these days people of all ages and occupations have expressed interest in the bunkers.

"I've been in the fallout shelter business for going on 55 years now, and this is a first," Nishimoto said.

A total of three missiles from North Korea fell within Japan's exclusive economic zone last month, leading local governments to carry out evacuation drills in preparation for a future attack.

Due to these developments, companies selling civilian war equipment and bomb shelters witnessed a huge increase in sales across Japan.

Kobe-based company Oribe Seiki Seisakusho, for example, sold out a total of 50 Swiss-made air purifiers, which cost over $5,000 and is used for keeping out radiation or poisonous gasses.