Six dead in Tokyo as Japan swelters in heatwave

TOKYO - Six people have died of heatstroke in Tokyo, as Japan swelters under a rare rainy season heatwave, prompting the authorities to issue a flurry of health warnings.

At the weekend, the central Shizuoka region became the first in Japan to see the mercury reach 40 deg C in 2024, far surpassing the 35 deg C threshold classified by weather officials as “extremely hot”.

Such severe heat in the middle of Japan’s rainy season is “rather rare”, caused in part by a strong South Pacific high-pressure system, a weather agency official told AFP.

Temperatures also hit record highs near 40 deg C on July 8 at observation posts in Tokyo and in the southern Wakayama region, according to local media.

The past few days have seen the authorities issue heatstroke alerts in much of the country, urging residents to avoid exercising outside and to use air-conditioning.

The capital logged three deaths linked to heatstroke on July 6 and three more on July 8, when the mercury hovered around 35 deg C at midday, according to the city’s medical examination office.

“Without the air-con on, I find it difficult to survive,” Tokyo resident Sumiko Yamamoto, 75, told AFP, adding that she feels “it’s gotten drastically hotter” since 2023.

“Through the advice given on TV, I try to stay hydrated as much as possible. Because I’m old, I’m being careful not to collapse,” she said.

Heatstroke is particularly deadly in Japan, which has the second-oldest population in the world after Monaco.

Ms Yamamoto’s age puts her in the demographic flagged by health experts as particularly vulnerable to heatstroke, along with infants and those living alone or who are too poor to afford air-conditioning.

The Japanese Association for Acute Medicine on July 8 warned of the rising death toll from heat exhaustion nationwide, which grew from just a few hundred a year two decades ago to around 1,500 in 2022.

The sheer number of fatalities suggests that heatstroke now poses a danger on a par with that of “a major natural disaster”, the group said, warning against non-essential outings.

Tokyo business executive Mikio Nakahara, 67, says the difference between Tokyo 50 years ago and now is stark.

“Tokyo wasn’t as hot as it is now,” he said.

But these days, “I try to work remotely as much as possible so I don’t have to go outside”.

With ever-hotter summers becoming the norm around the world, tourists like Ms Ainhoa Sanchez, 29, are not too surprised by Tokyo’s temperatures.

“So the plan is going sightseeing a little bit,” she said. “Drinking a lot of liquids.

“Maybe when we get too hot, we can get into a shop, look around, chill a bit and then go back to the street.” AFP