TOKYO – More than 120 people died of warmth stroke within the greater Tokyo area in July because the country's average temperature hit record highs and warmth warnings were in effect for a lot of the month, Japanese authorities said Tuesday.
According to the Tokyo Medical Examiner's Office, the 123 dead were mostly elderly people. All but two were found dead in enclosed spaces, and most had not used their air conditioners, though they were installed.
Japanese health authorities and weather forecasters have repeatedly advised people to remain indoors, drink loads of fluids to avoid dehydration, and use air-con, as older people often imagine that air-con shouldn’t be good for his or her health and are likely to avoid it.
According to the coroner, this was the best variety of deaths from heat stroke in Tokyo's 23 metropolitan wards in July because the 2018 heat wave, when 127 deaths were recorded.
According to the Fire and Disaster Management Agency, greater than 37,000 people across Japan were treated in hospitals for warmth stroke from July 1 to twenty-eight.
The average temperature in July was 2.16 degrees Celsius (3.89 degrees Fahrenheit) above the typical for the past 30 years, making it the most popular July because the Japan Meteorological Agency began keeping weather records in 1898.
Heat stroke warnings were in effect across much of Tokyo and western Japan on Tuesday. Temperatures in downtown Tokyo rose to around 34 degrees Celsius, and plenty of people carried umbrellas or hand fans.
“I feel like the heat wave is getting longer every year,” says Hidehiro Takano from Kyoto. “I leave the air conditioner on all the time, even when I'm sleeping. I try not to go outside.”
Maxime Picavet, a French tourist, showed off a conveyable fan he bought in Tokyo. “It works very, very well,” he said. “In these temperatures, it's indispensable.”
The weather service predicted warmer temperatures of 35 °C (95 °F) or more for August.
“Please pay attention to temperature forecasts and heat stroke warnings and take appropriate precautions to prevent heat stroke,” it said in a press release.
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