Rising Dark Side Part-Time Job Robberies Boost Demand for Panic Rooms—What’s the Cost of Safety

The important thing is to escape before the intruder finds you

When an intruder appears, the first thing to do is to escape before he/she finds you. In the U.S., there is a great risk of being killed if you encounter a thief, so panic rooms are designed by first calculating the line of flow to ‘escape first.

Due to the proliferation of black market robberies, even in Japan, encountering a thief no longer means risking one’s life. Robbers are daring to attack residences at the right time when the occupants are still there, and the most common method is to ask where the cash is hidden or the PIN number of the cash card. And in such a situation, “panic rooms” are said to be attracting attention in Japan.

The opening comment was made by Kazumi Yoshiyama, representative of Anchor Housing, which builds imported houses such as American Home. In recent years, the company has been known for its nuclear shelters, among other things, but it has started a new panic room business in response to a series of inquiries.

Panic rooms are also called safe rooms. It is an evacuation space inside a house to protect oneself in case of disaster or intruder. Protected by hidden and strong doors, they are designed to ensure safety in the event of an emergency. They are popular in the U.S. and are commonly installed in the homes of wealthy people in particular. In Japan, a movie titled “Panic Room” starring Jodie Foster was released in 2002, so some people may have heard of this type of room.

The features of a “panic room” include a hidden door to prevent detection by intruders, strong walls to prevent physical entry from the outside, and an independent means of communication to call for help from the outside. In addition, facilities for comfort in the room, such as ventilation systems, toilets, and stockpiles of water and food, are necessary. In addition, systems are often installed to monitor the outside of the room,” (Yoshiyama, also commenting below).

Hidden doors, such as one that appears when a bookcase is moved to the side, or a mirror or art panel that is itself a hidden door, make the room look like something out of a suspense movie. The walls surrounding the room are made of 12 mm steel plates, which, according to Yoshiyama, “cannot be shot through even with a magnum. In the past, independent lines were used for communication in case the telephone lines were cut, but nowadays, backup cellular phones are often installed and Internet lines are used. They also sometimes install panic buttons that can send an immediate alert to a security company.

Assuming evacuation flow lines at the design stage

The most important factor, Yoshiyama says, is the location of the panic room.

Compared to the ground floor, the basement is the most defensible location because of its limited intrusion routes. Since it is less visible to the public, it is easy to conceal the room’s existence. Ideally, an evacuation route flow line should be created at the design stage from a bedroom closet or the like so that a quick evacuation can take place here.

Even if the basement is not available and the room is to be installed on the ground floor, it is better to design the entire building after assuming some intruder routes in the early stages of building the house and considering what kind of flow line and where to escape to ensure safety as quickly as possible.

Of course, it is also possible to retrofit the system to a house that is already built.

Many houses do not use the six-tatami-mat Japanese-style room on the first floor very much, but it can be converted into a panic room by enclosing all four sides of such a room with steel walls to hide the entrance. The cost is about 10 million yen. The room is surrounded by sturdy walls, so it is resistant to earthquakes.”

The cost of building a panic room from the design stage also starts at about 10 million yen, and the underground type, which can also be used as a nuclear shelter, costs about 30 million yen.

The demand for panic rooms is likely to increase in the future due to the increase in violent crimes. This is not a topic that this magazine’s reporter, whose apartment is so full that his luggage is overflowing into the trunk room, let alone a detached house, is likely to have much to do with. ……

Image courtesy of Anchor Housing (https://ancarshelter.jp/)