Temperatures rose across Japan on Saturday to highs usually not seen until the height of summer, prompting the weather agency to issue heatstroke warnings.
The city of Taketa, in Oita Prefecture, marked 35.0 C, the hottest in the country so far this year, while central Tokyo, Nagoya and the cities ofOsaka and Fukuoka all saw the mercury rise above 30.0 C.
Other cities including Yamaguchi and Matsuyama marked record-high temperatures for the month of May.
As of 1:15 p.m., the Meteorological Agency warned the public to be wary of heatstroke in eight prefectures, including Fukushima and Hiroshima.
More than 95,000 people were taken by ambulance to hospitals to be treated for heatstroke between May and September last year, a record-high amid a heat wave so severe that it was designated a natural disaster by the government.