The emergency pickup drill: only a registered adult can collect your child

This notice is about a drill for what happens after a big earthquake: the school keeps the children, and an adult comes to collect each one. The drill is called a pickup drill (引き取り訓練, hikitori kunren) or handover drill (引き渡し訓練, hikiwatashi kunren). The notice asks you to register who may collect your child, and to come on the day.

This article follows one real notice: Sugao Elementary in Kawasaki (川崎市立菅生小学校), for its drill on Friday 8 May 2026, part of the city-wide disaster drill. Your school's version may differ.

The rule that matters most

Only the adults you registered can take your child. At this school the list was an online form, due on 22 April, about two weeks before the drill:

LoGo フォームに登録されていない方は、引き取りができません。

"Anyone not registered on the LoGo form cannot collect the child."

• The school would not accept a change of pickup person on the day, by phone or in the contact notebook (連絡帳), in principle.
• To change or add someone, write to the class teacher in the contact notebook beforehand, giving (1) the person's name and (2) their relationship to the child.
• The notice asked families to decide who would go, and to tell the child.

Your school may use a paper card for the same list instead of an online form. Whichever it is, fill it in by the date and keep it current.

What happens in a real earthquake

実際に震度 5 強以上の地震が発生した場合は、保護者が引き取りに来るまで学校で待機となります。

"If an earthquake of upper 5 or more on the Japanese scale actually happens, children wait at school until a parent comes." In the drill, children not collected by the end time gathered in the gym, heard a safety talk and then went home. Children going to the after-school programme went there together.

On the day (at this school)

• Pickup window 13:40–14:10, gate opening at 13:35, in the classrooms whatever the weather.
• Come on foot. No cars, motorbikes or bicycles.
• Wear your ID card, as the notice asked (ID カードの着用をお願いします。).
• Bring a bag for your shoes and umbrella: the way in and the way out were different doors.
• Tell the teacher your child's class and name and your own name. The notice gave the sentence:

  「〇年〇組の 〇〇 （お子さんの名前） を引き取りに来た △△です。」

  ("I am △△, here to collect ○○ of grade ○, class ○.")
• The teacher checks your name against the registered list, then hands over the child.
• Leave promptly after pickup. The child goes home with you, carrying the school bag, indoor shoes and disaster hood.
• With more than one child, the notice asked parents to start with the building it named. Your school's order may differ.

Words on the notice

On the paper	Meaning
引き取り訓練	Pickup drill.
引き取り人	The adult who collects the child.
登録	Registration (of pickup adults).
待機	Waiting (at school).
防災頭巾	Disaster hood the child keeps at school.