The British Embassy in Tokyo and the Consulate-General in Osaka would like to identify British citizens, especially long term residents with links to the British community, who are willing to volunteer as wardens in a network covering cities, towns and villages across Japan. A warden network could play a valuable role in helping us to respond effectively in emergencies.

We would not expect wardens' duties to take up a great deal of time. Wardens would act as a link to the British community in an emergency, passing on information and reporting back to either the Embassy or Consulate-General.

Background information

1. As a warden, your primary duty would be to encourage members of the British commuty to register with our on-line database, LOCATE. the more people we know about, the better we can respond to emergencies and other developments.
2. Once your application had been processed we will assign you a district. The districts are usually prefectures e.g. Hokkaido (1) [Wakkanai] or areas, in the cases of large cities e.g. East Tokyo (7) [Sumida-ku]. You will be assigned to an area where you spend most of your time, therefore it is important to include both your home and work addresses.
3. We ask wardens to provide details of evacuation centres and shelters within easy reach of their home and place of work. In a very serious emergency, causing the evacuation of British citizens from Japan, we will advise wardens about the means of evacuation, and the availability of Consular staff at departure points to help with documentation, etc. In such a situation, we would be closely in touch with British Airways, Virgin Atlantic and other carriers.
4. In the event of any natural disaster or other emergency affecting the safety and welfare of British citizens, we aim to reach wardens by telephone, e-mail or other means. We will look to the wardens to let us know about the situation in their area, the extent to which any of our nationals are affected and whether the Embassy or Consulate-General can help. We will use the warden network to channel information to the British community at shelters and in evacuation centres. Please note, however, that Wardens are not expected to put themselves or any other member of the community at risk in passing on messages.
5. If, during an emergency, normal communications were disrupted, Consular staff will look to other means of getting in touch with wardens and the British community, including through BBC overseas service broadcasts, or sending a consular team to the affected area.
6. We produce a quarterly newsletter for our wardens, keeping them up to date of disaster-prevention related events, news and giving them the opportunity to offer feedback and suggestions on the network.

If you are interested in becoming a warden, please download the registration form below and send the completed form by e-mail, fax or by post to either the British Embassy in Tokyo (warden-network.tokyo@fco.gov.uk or fax: 03-5275-0346), if you live in Eastern Japan, or to the Consulate General in Osaka (warden-network.osaka@fco.gov.uk or fax: 06-6281-1731), if you live in Western Japan.

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PLEASE NOTE!

Your application can not be processed if you haven't first registered with us. Is your information up to date? We recommend you to re-register your information if you haven’t updated for more than 2 years. Click here to register/update.