Heatstroke alert issued for 19 prefectures as Japan enters ‘once-in-a-decade’ heat wave

The mercury is expected to hit dangerously high levels in Japan on Sunday, with weather authorities issuing heatstroke alerts in 19 prefectures nationwide, including this year’s first for central Tokyo and Kanagawa.

With climate change driving up temperatures across the globe, Japan will experience a heat wave between Sunday and July 14 on a “level only seen once in a decade,” the Meteorological Agency said last week.

The highest temperatures are expected to reach the mid to high 30s in wide areas of the country, including 37 degrees Celsius in Nagoya, 36 C in Fukuoka, Osaka and Kochi and 35 C in Hiroshima and Tokyo, according to Weathernews.