YOKOSUKA, Japan (AP) — North Korea’s flurry of missile launches — 20 of them just in the past year — is a new and alarming fact of life for Japan and its other neighbors.

But Pyongyang’s recent demonstrations of its capacity to launch intercontinental ballistic missiles, while worrying, are drawing shrugs from many in the region who reckon there’s not much anyone can do about them.

“We have no idea when and where (a missile) would strike. Honestly, I don’t think there is any way to prepare for it,” Akira Fukatsu, a 65-year-old retiree, said as he sat drinking a beer on a bench in a park overlooking a U.S. Navy base in Yokosuka, south of Tokyo. “We’re simply unlucky if one strikes here.”

Many Japanese, South Koreans and Chinese appear to share that sense of resignation over North Korea’s apparent newfound capacity to launch missiles capable of reaching much of the continental United States.

The July 4 firing of a Hwasong-14 ICBM, its first test, and another last weekend suggest that major U.S. cities such as Los Angeles and Chicago are within range of North Korean weapons. Such missiles could be armed with nuclear, biological or chemical warheads, although many experts say North Korea hasn’t fully mastered miniaturizing nuclear warheads and might not have the technology to ensure a warhead would survive re-entry into the atmosphere from space or even hit an intended target.

Attitudes in Japan, South Korea and China toward the threat vary, but likely reflect a sangfroid partly born of living with the legacy of the Cold War and ever present risks of huge earthquakes and other natural disasters.

JAPAN

Many Japanese have mixed feelings about the latest developments, viewing them as a sign that by focusing on ICBM development, North Korea’s aggression is directed toward the U.S. rather than Japan, even if test launches have been splashing down off Japan’s coast.

“Japan was within range of North Korean missiles even before their range extended recently,” said Tetsuharu Nagashima, an official in charge of emergency response in Yokosuka, which is home to some of the 50,000 American troops stationed in U.S. ally Japan, as well as a Japanese naval base.

Instructions on the local government website tell people to take refuge in strong buildings or underground shopping arcades in case of attack, and to hit the ground and cover their heads if no such shelter is nearby.

Unlike some communities that have held drills and drawn up contingency plans, Nagashima said Yokosuka had no plan to conduct evacuation drills.

Misaki Honna, the mother of a 10-month-old girl, said suggestions that Yokosuka might be targeted because of the U.S. and Japanese military presence were troubling.

“But even if we flee, we wouldn’t know where to go. If a missile strikes, there’s almost nothing you can do about it,” she said.

Eiko Miyauchi, 83, endured U.S. fire-bombings during World War II. As a child, she was evacuated from the coast and took shelter in an underground bunker as bombs rained down.

“I lived through the war, and I can’t imagine anything being as scary as that one,” she said.

SOUTH KOREA

Living just across the Demilitarized Zone from North Korea, South Koreans are famously laid back about its displays of military might.

But while life continues as usual and there’s no visible panic on the streets, at least some South Koreans are starting to question whether North Korea’s nuclear weapons and missiles may have become bigger problems than anyone wants to admit.

“South Koreans have been too relaxed,” said Yang Seung-jun, noting that missile launches show North Korea could attack the South at any time. “It’s our choice to laugh it off and say ‘North Korea can’t do that,’ or the ‘United Nations will sanction them’… But war never happens when we expect it to,” he said.

Some South Koreans who spoke to The Associated Press in the capital Seoul expressed frustration over decades of failed efforts by Seoul and Washington to dissuade Pyongyang from pursuing its nuclear ambitions.

Park Sun-hee, the mother of three, the youngest an 8-year-old boy, said she doesn’t fret over every missile launch. It’s obviously difficult to be in perpetual panic over the same bellicose neighbor who has been there for decades, especially while living in one of Asia’s most competitive societies.