TOKYO – Japan recorded its highest-ever temperature of 41.8 deg C on Aug 5, prompting the government to advise residents to stay indoors and promise to take steps to ease weather-related damage to rice crops.
The eastern city of Isesaki, in Gunma prefecture, set the record to surpass the previous high of 41.2 deg C marked last week in the western city of Tamba in Hyogo prefecture, the country’s meteorological agency said.
More than 53,000 people have been hospitalised
for heat stroke in the summer of 2025,
according to Japan’s Fire and Disaster Management Agency.
Average temperatures across Japan have continued to climb after marking a record high in July for the third year in a row, while the north-eastern region along the Sea of Japan saw critically low levels of rainfall, raising concerns over the rice harvest there.
High temperatures have caused a proliferation of stink bugs in some rice-growing areas, even as the government is set to officially adopt a new policy on Aug 5 of increased rice production to prevent future shortages.
“We need to act with speed and a sense of crisis to prevent damage” from high temperatures, Farm Minister Shinjiro Koizumi said at a press conference. The government will offer support for pest control and measures to tackle drought, he said.
Extreme heat in 2023 had damaged the quality of rice, causing an acute shortage in 2024 that was exacerbated by the government’s misreading of supply and demand. That led to historically high prices of the all-important staple food, causing a national crisis. REUTERS
