By Yuki Yamaguchi,
Emergency helicopters have become the go-to mode of transport in disaster and accident response situations for municipalities in Japan, with their effectiveness increasingly being augmented by innovative services and products offered by private companies.
In the space of 22 years, Japan went from having no emergency helicopters to 56, with Okayama Prefecture the first to operate one in 2001, according to the Emergency Medical Network of Helicopter and Hospital, known as HEM-Net.
The need for emergency helicopters became widely recognized after the Great Hanshin Earthquake in 1995, which claimed more than 6,400 lives, caused extensive damage to land transportation infrastructure in and around the major city of Kobe and made rescue operations very difficult.
The creation of a law to promote the use of such helicopters in 2007 as well as government subsidies accelerated their uptake.
Today, all of Japan's 47 prefectures operate emergency medical helicopters, with the number of dispatches across the country reaching 29,245 in fiscal 2022, a figure that has approximately doubled in the past decade, according to the non-profit organization.
"There is more demand for emergency helicopters than we can see in the statistics," Takaaki Komatsu, secretary-general at HEM-Net, said.
That demand is being driven by innovative private companies that are offering new services that make the most of the helicopters' capabilities.
Japanese venture firm Authentic Japan Co. launched a membership-based helicopter rescue service targeted at mountaineers and backcountry skiers named Cocoheli in 2016.
For an annual fee of 5,500 yen, members receive a pocket-sized transmitter that emits signals that allow rescuers to pinpoint their location.
Once the company receives a call for help from a member, it arranges the dispatch of a helicopter operated by a partner company or coordinates a search and rescue operation with local authorities.
The number of people becoming lost or stranded in Japan's vast mountainous areas has been on the rise in line with an increase in the popularity of remote adventuring. According to the National Police Agency, there were 3,015 incidents in 2022, the highest since the statistics became available in 1961.
Authentic Japan has about 160,000 subscribers for the Cocoheli service, and has been involved with about 300 rescues so far. Police and fire departments in 39 prefectures have Cocoheli signal receivers, according to the company.
In more than 80 percent of the cases, those calling for help were found within three hours from the start of the search, it says.
"By shortening the time it takes to locate people stranded in mountains, we hope to save as many lives as possible," a company official said.
Automakers such as Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co., in collaboration with HEM-Net, have started a service called D-Call Net that automatically requests the dispatch of an emergency helicopter when a vehicle driving data recorder detects a serious road accident has occurred.
The system monitors the intensity of a collision, vehicle speed and whether passengers were wearing seatbelts at the time of the impact.
Once the severity of an accident is assessed using a specialized algorithm, emergency medical responders will be alerted if required.
The system can shorten the time it takes for emergency services to attend to the injured by around 17 minutes, the automakers and HEM-Net said.
To tap the growing demand for helicopters, Italian aerospace company Leonardo S.p.A. launched in October a month-long flight demonstration tour across Japan to showcase its state-of-the-art mid-size AW169 helicopter to customers such as police and firefighting departments.
The new aircraft, which is widely used overseas to deliver emergency medical help, boasts a spacious cabin that can accommodate two stretchers along with a full suite of advanced life-support devices.
The helicopter can carry around 10 people and operate its onboard medical equipment using an auxiliary power unit without needing to have its rotors spinning.
"It's suited for customers that have to cover a wide area or those who have to carry specialized equipment," said Mario Omodaka, head of sales and marketing in North East Asia at Leonardo Helicopters.
"We are getting positive responses from our potential customers" such as police, fire departments and the Self-Defense Forces, he said.
HEM-Net's Komatsu says that more helicopters are needed across Japan to save lives that would otherwise be lost if rescuers can only search overland.
"It really makes a difference when it comes to prompt rescue operations," he said. "We definitely need more helicopters" to prepare for disasters.
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