Sakai City, Osaka in Japan launched a collaborative disaster prevention awareness hazard map with the late-author Takao Saito‘s manga Golgo 13 on April 06, 2022. Saito had spent his childhood in Sakai city.

An overview video of the manual introduces the actions to be taken in the event of a disaster and the “preparations” that can be practiced to protect one’s closed ones.

The black cover of the map features the main character Duke Tōgō with the caption, “The key to protecting lives from disasters is “preparation . “

去年、亡くなった劇画家、さいとう・たかをさんが少年時代を過ごした大阪 堺市で、代表作の「ゴルゴ13」の主人公が描かれた防災マップが作られ、11日から配布が始まりました。https://t.co/jHtPYY64uk#nhk_video pic.twitter.com/viJllPrH6i

— NHKニュース (@nhk_news) April 11, 2022

The maps have been distributed at city halls and ward offices since April 11, and is also made available to download on the city’s website.

Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) has been issuing manuals to promote travel safety using Saito’s Golgo 13 manga since 2017.

In 2021, MOFA revised the guidebook to add information on how to stop COVID-19 from spreading. The government agency released an “extra story” based on the handbook with animated manga panels on April 1.

MOFA describes it as “a story that conveys the necessity of dealing with the combined risks of infection and terrorism.”

The original manual was published by MOFA in response to a terrorist assault in Dhaka, Bangladesh, in July 2016 that killed seven Japanese people. The guidebook is available in video and PDF forms on MOFA’s website.

Source: NHK, Sakai city website, MOFA