Japan sweltered this year through its hottest summer since records began, the weather agency said Monday.
Temperatures the world over have soared in recent years as climate change creates ever more erratic weather patterns.
Japan's average temperature between June and August "was 2.36C above the standard value, which marked the hottest summer since records began in 1898", according to the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA).
The agency said it was the third consecutive summer of record high temperatures.
Scorching heat left some 84,521 people hospitalised nationwide from May 1 to August 24 this year, up slightly from 83,414 during the same period last year, according to the Fire and Disaster Management Agency.
In Tokyo, avid runner Masao Nakano, 80, told AFP he pines for the old days when he could just "step outside, sprinkle water in the street and feel the cool air".
Nakano says he survived the sizzling summer by working out at a gym and jogging to prepare for a marathon.
"This is crazy. It's all man-made, right? All the air-cons and power generation", he said.
Miyu Fujita, a 22-year-old businesswoman in the city, said she had mostly socialised indoors this summer to escape the oppressive temperatures and was also worried about children forced inside.
"When I was a child, summer was the time to go outside and play," she added. "Can kids play outside now? I think it's impossible."
Japan's beloved cherry trees are blooming earlier due to the warmer climate, or sometimes not fully blossoming because autumns and winters are not cold enough to trigger flowering, experts say.
The famous snowcap of Mount Fuji was absent for the longest recorded period last year, not appearing until early November, compared with the average of early October.
Heatwaves are becoming more intense and frequent worldwide because of human-caused climate change, scientists say.
But the speed of temperature increases across the world is not uniform.
Of the continents, Europe has seen the fastest warming per decade since 1990, followed closely by Asia, according to global data from the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The United Nations warned last month that rising global temperatures are having an ever-worsening impact on the health of workers, and was also hitting productivity, which they say dropped by two to three percent for every degree above 20C.
© 2025 AFP