The winter after an unusually hot summer is especially risky for the elderly, whose vulnerable immune systems have been taxed by intense heat.
For 81-year-old Kiyoshi Takahashi, the coming of the cold means a greater likelihood of contracting pneumonia, which could be fatal given his age and condition.
Takahashi has pulmonary emphysema. He has been convalescing at his home in Arakawa Ward, Tokyo, since August 2000 after undergoing thoracic and abdominal surgery to remove cancer.