The device is strapped around the body and inflates in 0.1 seconds if it detects it is accelerating towards the ground, the manufacturers say.

The Tokyo-based company, Prop, says the product is designed to cushion a fall using two separate pockets of air.

One pocket will be behind the head and the other around the hips. It does not protect those who fall forward.

The airbag has been unveiled at the International Home Care and Rehabilitation Exhibition in Tokyo.

The president of Prop, Mitsuya Uchida, says it is aimed especially at old people with epilepsy, who are very vulnerable to injury.

The above video report notes that falling is a major cause of accidental injury and death among Japan’s elderly population, and many old people interviewed on the street express their fears about falling.

For elderly people that wear adult diapers, the act of putting on or removing a diaper can sometimes cause the loss of balance and injury. To combat this threat, one Japanese company has developed a special adult diaper that is extra easy to put on. Here’s a video clip of a brave Japanese reporter trying on the diaper and comparing it to the competition: