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The Fire and Disaster Management Agency said Wednesday that the number of people transported to hospitals due to heatstroke exceeded 17,700 in July, the highest number since records started being kept in 2008. Of those, 102 persons died in 33 metropolitan areas, with Aichi Prefecture and Tokyo recording the highest numbers, the agency said in a statement.
Elderly people accounted for 71% of all cases. In other notable cases, a 3-year-old and a 1-year- old child died from causes attributed to heatstroke after being left inside a car for a long period of time.
Meanwhile, public broadcaster NHK reported that more than half of those who died indoors are believed to have suffered heatstroke where there was no air-conditioning or it was not used, due to the government's request to cut back on power consumption.
The Fire and Disaster Management agency predicts more heat to come and continues to issue warnings.
© Japan Today
9 Comments
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Greg Demmons
My wife called me at school one day, upset because she saw a young child get left behind at the Horikawa here in Kyoto. I asked a Japanese teacher nearby what the best thing to do would be. He replied "If she calls the police, they will collect the child and bring him back to his parent and tell her not to do that again." My wife stayed nearby, waiting, 30 -40 minutes later, the mother reappeared. I remember I used to hear at home in canada how much more family-oriented Asia people were...hmmmm...
ka_chan
I don't know if it's correct to call these case of heat stroke. I think it's more proper to call them heat related deaths. Heat strokes requires a body temperature that goes above 40.6 c. For a country that doesn't do autopsies, they sure seem to know how people die. Heat increases as concrete increases. Tokyo used to have much more open land but now even the parks have buildings and paved paths. Basically, in the some large cities become a pizza oven.
Cricky
That is a very good point! 3 years or Summers is not enough, this might have been happening for years, decades. It is a very hot place in summer and this can not be a NEW thing.
Mike Walker
A possible reason for this is that hospitals and clinics are allowed to run air conditioners at normal levels of cooling whereas for the rest of us we are told to run them sparingly set at 28 and to wear cool biz clothing.So why not tell a little white lie and check in for a few cool days and recover. They also advise using cooling fans which are almost impossible to get hold of at the moment. Another point is that records have only been being kept since 2008!!! Thats only 3 years.Hardly time to build up a statistically valid case study.
BlueWitch
Leaving a 3 or 1 year old in a car isn't a heatstoke case it's Murder and should be handled as such !
Agreed with you 100%....and guess where are the parents right now? They are probably back at the pachinko after being given a couple of suspended sentences. shouganaine!
RIP
proxy
We don't need nuclear power; yes we do.
Cricky
Ahh dressing for the weather rather than the social norm might help, but as stated in the article 70 % of cases are elderly who should know better as they have been through more summers than anyone.
TumbleDry
Joepineapples: August just started.
Joepineapples
Leaving a 3 or 1 year old in a car isn't a heatstoke case it's Murder and should be handled as such ! Also the weather has been mild for August I would hate to think how many cases if it was 35c+ like some years