Heatwave broils Japan, 23 dead
Record temperature follows record rainfall that devastated parts of western and central Japan with floods and landslides that killed over 220 people
TOKYO: The temperature rose to a record 41.1 degrees Celsius in a city northwest of Tokyo on Monday, as a heatwave in Japan that has killed at least 23 people and sent thousands to hospital showed no sign of significant easing.
The temperature was recorded in Kumagaya, in Saitama prefecture, topping the previous high of 41 degrees C in the western prefecture of Kochi in August 2013, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.
Records go back to varying dates for different cities, with data for Kumagaya starting in 1896.
Japan has been battered by intense heat for close to two weeks but the mercury soared on Monday, breaking above 40 in one part of the broader Tokyo metropolitan area, while the centre of the capital marked a high of 39 in the early afternoon.
According to the Fire and Defence Management Agency, which issues weekly data, 12 people had died from the heat as of July 15, the latest available figures.
Media reports say at least 11 more died this past Saturday alone, while thousands have been taken to hospital.
Among the dead was a primary schoolboy who collapsed after a field trip to a park 20 minutes’ walk from his school.
Temperatures in the ancient capital of Kyoto marked a record last week of seven straight days above 38 degrees, hitting 39.8 on July 19, and prompting the city to cancel one of its biggest annual tourist events, a parade for the Gion Matsuri, on Sunday.
With the Tokyo Summer Olympics in 2020, concern has risen about the safety of athletes and spectators.
The heat, due to a layering of two high pressure systems over much of Japan, is expected to ease slightly this week but temperatures of around 33 are expected.
The heatwave has toppled temperature records across the country, with Kumagaya in Saitama outside Tokyo setting a new nationwide record on Monday with temperatures hitting 41.1 degrees Celsius (106 degrees Fahrenheit). And in western Tokyo’s Ome, temperatures hit 40.3 degrees Celsius, the first time temperatures over 40 have been recorded in Tokyo’s metro area. Records fell at 13 other observation stations across the country, with more than a dozen cities and towns seeing temperatures around 40 degrees, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.
“People in areas where temperatures are as high as 35 degrees or higher should be extremely careful” to avoid heatstroke, meteorological agency official Minako Sakurai said.
“People should be all the more careful as many people must be exhausted after days of cruelly hot weather,” she added.
Yoshihide Suga, top government spokesman, warned that extremely hot days “are expected to continue until early August.”
The heatwave follows record rainfall that devastated parts of western and central Japan with floods and landslides that killed over 220 people.
Japan’s summers are notoriously hot and humid, and hundreds of people die each year from heatstroke, particularly the elderly in the country’s ageing society. But this year’s record temperatures have surprised residents and officials alike, and revived concerns about the 2020 Summer Olympics, which will be held in July and August in Tokyo.