We visited Yokohama Disaster Risk Reduction Learning Center near Yokohama station with other families including little kids. The standard tour takes about an hour and it started with a movie in the Disaster Education Theater. We were a bit worried about this part but there were only us in the theater at that time and the children were rather calm. The movie came with English subtitles, too.
Then we moved to the Earthquake Simulator. Moms have to hold a young one in the arms and also hold the safety bar, so it was harder!!! We experienced from level 4 to 7. We still felt shaking after getting off the machine.
We went up to the second floor to learn how to use the fire extinguisher, then how to escape in the smoke (Fire Simulator). In the end, we entered the Disaster Mitigation Training Room to learn what to do in case of earthquake and rainstorm.
Japan recently had a big earthquake in Osaka and rainstorm/flood in West Japan. We learned it is important that each family (especially with young children) prepare for disaster.
We are planning to visit there again. It will be posted on our FB group so please keep an eye on it!
*For the tour, you can make a reservation beforehand. It seems to be possible to join the tour on the spot if there's a room (but reservation is recommended!). The staff on the day didn't speak much English but he tried to speak slowly in Japanese. The booklet they gave us is bilingual (Japanese/English).
