Electric handheld fans, an increasingly common sight amid Japan's sweltering heat, may be prone to exploding if faulty, according to the National Institute of Technology and Evaluation (NITE).
As the nation continues to see high temperatures, with an "extremely hot day" of 35 degrees Celsius and above being registered at a record 195 locations Monday, gadgets and goods that can be used while outside are a helpful — perhaps even critical — means of coping with the heat. In Japan, electric handheld fans are particularly popular.
However, according to NITE, there were at least 45 reported cases of electric handheld fans exploding during the five years through 2022. In a video released by the same institute, an experiment demonstrates how the fan could spark and explode near the user’s face.