Before You Dive into the Sea! Japan Coast Guard and LINE Yahoo Launch Joint Initiative for Marine Accident Prevention

The Japan Coast Guard and LINE Yahoo Co., Ltd. (hereinafter 'LINE Yahoo') announced today the launch of a collaborative initiative aimed at raising awareness for marine accident prevention during the summer marine leisure season. This marks the first time LINE Yahoo has partnered with the Japan Coast Guard on a safety promotion campaign.

As part of this initiative, the two organizations will distribute nationwide leaflets featuring 'Emoji no Ko (Provisional)', a widely beloved default emoji on LINE, and will provide a 'rich message template' for LINE Official Accounts operated by municipalities and businesses near coastal areas—such as beach houses—that are closely associated with marine leisure. These efforts aim to promote the Japan Coast Guard's 'Water Safety Guide (Note 1)'.

Note 1: Japan Coast Guard – Water Safety Guide

The 'Water Safety Guide', published by the Japan Coast Guard, is a comprehensive safety information website designed to help people safely enjoy eight types of activities, including swimming, stand-up paddleboarding (SUP), and canoeing. It provides safety information such as accident prevention knowledge and activity-specific characteristics, agreed upon and recommended through consultation meetings involving national agencies and private sector organizations.

Mr. Tomoyuki Ishizuka, Director of the Transportation Department, Japan Coast Guard; Ms. Miki Yoshitake, Unit Lead, CSR Unit, Sustainability Promotion CBU, LINE Yahoo Co., Ltd.

Summer is a peak season for marine leisure activities such as swimming, but it is also a period when marine accidents frequently occur. According to the Japan Coast Guard's 'Current Status and Countermeasures for Marine Accidents in Reiwa 7', the number of beach accident victims related to marine leisure reached 702. Among them, 218 were injured while swimming, accounting for a significant proportion of total incidents. Additionally, the number of fatalities and missing persons reached 206 (including 82 who were swimming), highlighting that ensuring safety at beaches is a critical issue that allows no delay.

In particular, a major challenge lies in how to effectively deliver safety information—including the 'Water Safety Guide (Water Safety Guide)'—to tourists unfamiliar with local sea conditions and to vulnerable groups such as children, students, and families, thereby raising their safety awareness.

In response to this context, the initiative will combine real-world (leaflets) and digital (LINE Official Accounts) approaches to make disaster prevention and safety information more accessible and psychologically approachable for users.

① Creation and Nationwide Distribution of Leaflets Featuring 'Emoji no Ko (Provisional)'

The Japan Coast Guard and LINE Yahoo have jointly created a limited-edition design for the 'Water Safety Guide' leaflets, which the Japan Coast Guard will distribute and display at municipalities and related facilities nationwide. The design features 'Emoji no Ko (Provisional)' wearing a life jacket. Through this friendly visual, the leaflet serves as an eye-catching element to attract the attention of tourists and families visiting beaches, improving the reach of safety information to audiences who previously showed little interest in disaster prevention.

Through collaboration with various government ministries, the leaflets will also be displayed on digital signage in service areas and parking areas along national highways, and distribution will be promoted to educational institutions nationwide.

Leaflet for Distribution

② Provision of Rich Messages via 'LINE Official Accounts'

To enable municipalities, marine-related facilities, and private enterprises operating 'LINE Official Accounts' to easily and effectively conduct safety awareness campaigns, the Japan Coast Guard and LINE Yahoo have jointly developed a 'rich message template' that delivers visually compelling content upon message opening. For this campaign, creative assets (images) related to the eight activities featured in the 'Water Safety Guide' are provided.

Currently, the number of monthly active LINE Official Accounts in Japan has reached 1.27 million (Note 2), and approximately 1,500 municipalities nationwide (Note 3) utilize the service. The initiative will first encourage adoption among municipalities across the country, followed by outreach to private companies operating marine-related facilities.

By leveraging LINE for information dissemination, safety messages can be delivered directly and instantly to a large number of users.

Note 2: As of March 2026 (monthly active accounts across all accounts, excluding accounts for services provided by LINE Yahoo)

Note 3: As of January 2026. Total number of municipalities includes all prefectures, cities, towns, villages, and special wards.

Rich Message for LINE Official Accounts (Concept)

Future Initiatives

Starting today, local governments across Japan can now seamlessly access and republish marine accident prevention messages from the Japan Coast Guard and LINE Yahoo via a dedicated page on 'LINE for Government'. This enables rapid, community-tailored alerts and aims to establish a sustainable model case of 'Awareness DX in public and administrative sectors', while continuing collaboration toward the goal of zero marine accidents nationwide.

Special page on 'LINE for Government': https://linegov.com/case/marine-safety.php

Statements from Participants

Mr. Tomoyuki Ishizuka, Director, Transportation Department, Japan Coast Guard

'Guided by our shared desire to reduce tragic marine accidents by even a single incident, we have held extensive discussions with LINE Yahoo Co., Ltd., culminating in this collaboration. Moving forward, we will deliver the 'Water Safety Guide' to even more people through collaborative leaflets and LINE Official Accounts operated by municipalities and others. We hope this initiative will encourage more people to make it a habit to check accident prevention tips before heading to the sea, allowing everyone to enjoy the ocean safely—and ultimately prevent even one more accident.'

Ms. Miki Yoshitake, Unit Lead, CSR Unit, Sustainability Promotion CBU, LINE Yahoo Co., Ltd.

'We are deeply honored to collaborate with the Japan Coast Guard, an organization entrusted with maritime safety, sharing the same vision. 'Emoji no Ko (Provisional)' is a familiar presence, beloved in everyday conversations among families and friends. We believe that having this familiar character convey the fear of 'what if' scenarios at sea and how to protect oneself will create intuitive and memorable safety awareness. This initiative embodies our CSR policy and our role as a life platform. We will continue diverse challenges to ensure that this new form of awareness—combining the real 'sea' and the digital 'LINE'—helps prevent even one more tragic accident.'

LINE Yahoo's Previous CSR Initiatives

LINE Yahoo has promoted the use of its platform toward realizing a safer and more secure society, guided by its CSR policy: 'Make technology more accessible and more secure.' In the past, the company has collaborated with municipalities and educational institutions nationwide to implement 'disaster-time handover drills' using school-to-parent communication systems during emergencies. This first joint collaboration with the Japan Coast Guard takes our previous CSR achievements in disaster prevention and education to the next level, addressing summer leisure as an 'extension of everyday life'