I remember the Nuclear Arms race from the sixties and people here were building bomb shelters...

TOKYO (Reuters) -

Hiroyuki Mogi heaves open a thick concrete door to reveal a basement room lined with cans of food and bottles of water along with beds, an air filter and a laptop computer.

Like a growing number of Japanese alarmed by the threat of North Korean missiles, Mogi has made his own arrangements to protect himself and his family in case a nuclear bomb should land on Japan.

The government employee from Hino, western Tokyo, said in an interview he had packed enough food to feed his family of four for 10 days into a nuclear shelter in his basement, which is built to withstand temperatures of 1,500 Celsius (2,700 Fahrenheit).

"Since we have a neighbor like North Korea, we as individuals can't avoid shouldering the cost," said Mogi, 44. "Having a shelter at home gives us peace of mind."

Phones have been ringing constantly at precision machinery manufacturer Oribe-Seiki Co., which markets nuclear shelters like Mogi's, since Pyongyang fired off seven missiles last Wednesday.

North Korea has claimed to have nuclear weapons.

Oribe-Seiki, based in Kobe in western Japan, has fitted 80 private homes with nuclear bunkers since North Korea's 1998 launch of a ballistic missile that flew over Japan and landed in the Pacific.

The deluxe shelter under Mogi's log-cabin-style house cost him more than $100,000, but smaller versions start at $20,000, the company said.

The cool underground space is not sitting empty while Mogi waits for disaster to strike. His 10-year-old daughter says she beds down there when Tokyo's summer heat makes it hard to sleep.

 

What? No air conditioning in Japan?