Japan heat wave pushes temperature to record high 41.1 degrees Celsius

Japanese officials issued new warnings Monday (Jul 23) as a deadly heatwave blankets the country, producing record high temperatures in Tokyo just two years before the city hosts the 2020 Summer Olympics.

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. (Photo: AFP/Martin Bureau)

Officials said last week that the heatwave had killed at least 15 people and forced the hospitalisation of over 12,000 others in the first two weeks of July.

But the death toll may be more than double that, with Kyodo News agency reporting 11 people died on Saturday alone across Japan.

An updated official toll is expected later this week.

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 Celsius.

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, 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 told AFP.

"And at even lower temperatures, the heat can be dangerous for small children and elderly people, and depending on the environment and activities you are doing," she warned.

"People should be all the more careful as many people must be exhausted after days of cruelly hot weather," she added.

Japan's disaster management agency has urged people to use airconditioning, drink sufficient water and rest often while at work.

Temperatures hit 40.3 degrees Celsius in Ome, the first time temperatures over 40 have been recorded in Tokyo's metro area. (Photo: AFP/Martin Bureau)

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.

Olympic officials and Tokyo's local government are touting measures from solar-blocking paint on roads to mobile misting stations to tackle the heat.

Aside from Japan, South Korea is also facing a heatwave.

Scorching weather is expected in South Korea all week, after day time temperatures on Monday (Jul 23) hovered around 33 to 37 degrees Celsius across the country, reported the Korea Herald.

On Monday, residents in Seoul woke up to a temperature of 29.2 Celsius, the highest in the country's capital since 1907.

Heatwave warnings are in effect in most parts of the country except some parts of Jeju Island.

According to the Korea Herald, temperatures will rise to 37 degrees Celsius in Daegu, 35 degrees Celsius in Seoul, 34 degrees Celsius in Incheon, and 35 degrees Celsius in Suwon.

Last week, the heatwave claimed five lives in South Korea, reported the Chosun Ilbo, adding that 237 people were hospitalised due to heat-related illnesses between Jul 15 and 17.

The Korea Meteorological Administration added that the heat has accumulated in the atmosphere because of a particularly strong North Pacific anticyclone this year./.

VNF/AFP