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August 29, 2025
 

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HEAT WAVES

People shield themselves from the sun with umbrellas in Tokyo on Wednesday.
JAPAN
Aug 27, 2025
Tokyo logs record 10 days of 35 C or hotter, weather agency says
Japan sweltered through its hottest ever June and July this year.
Suyun Ham, an engineering professor at UTA, reviews data from a recent inspection with two other researchers. Ham likens his technology to a “portable MRI,” which can detect cracks and other hidden dangers in a bridge.
ENVIRONMENT
Aug 26, 2025
Are bridges near you safe? This MRI-like scan may prevent disaster
An engineering professor from the University of Texas at Arlington is experimenting with a novel approach to inspecting bridges for heat damage.
A-Style President Kenichiro Kawakami applies a heat-shielding film to a window.
JAPAN / Regional Voices: Kyushu
Aug 25, 2025
For this Fukuoka company president, preventing heatstroke is personal
Kenichiro Kawakami lost his mother to heatstroke in 2017, inspiring him to launch the service of applying heat-shielding films to windows.
A wildfire burns near the village of Esposende, in the northwestern Spanish municipality of Cenlle, on Aug. 17.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Aug 25, 2025
Spain's 16-day heat wave is 'most intense on record'
Forest fires are still burning across northern and western Spain, as well as in neighboring Portugal.
Agricultural workers harvest jasmine flowers at sunrise at a field in the village of Shubra Balula in Egypt's northern Nile delta province of Gharbiya on July 7.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Aug 25, 2025
Egyptian farmers behind world's perfumes face climate fight alone
Jasmine has sustained thousands of Egyptian farmers for generations, but rising temperatures, prolonged dry spells and climate-driven pests are putting that legacy at risk.
Hikers on a trail in Hakuba, Nagano Prefecture. As extreme heat continues to grip Japan, a tectonic shift may be underway in the nation’s summer tourism scene as more people gravitate toward cooler destinations.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change / OUR PLANET
Aug 24, 2025
Are 'coolcations' the answer for Japan's heat-weary tourists?
Those in the travel industry are working to advertise cooler destinations, amid the prospect that the heat may prompt people to give up on traveling in the summer altogether.
Tourists from abroad get water mist sprayed on them to cool down on the street at Tsukiji Outer Market, a popular sightseeing spot, as the Japanese government issued a heatstroke alert in Tokyo and other prefectures due to a heat wave on Friday.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Aug 23, 2025
World’s climate change crisis has tourists seeking ‘coolcations’
Record heat waves are transforming the world’s tourism industry as holidaymakers struggle to deal with the havoc wrought by climate change.
A commuter uses a portable fan on an underground train at rush hour during a heat wave in the City of London financial district.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Aug 21, 2025
As temperatures soar in London, regulations, not costs, put cooling beyond reach
The British capital has seen a surge in demand for air-conditioning units in high-end homes as climate change raises summer temperatures.
High temperatures are forecast to last for another month in Japan, according to the weather agency.
JAPAN
Aug 20, 2025
Searing heat in Japan to persist for a month, boosting power use
A high-pressure system that keeps warm air near the surface has caused prolonged hot weather in Japan since June, the national weather forecaster said.
People watch a wildfire burn in Castrillo de Cabrera, northwestern Spain, on Saturday.
WORLD
Aug 18, 2025
Spain deploys more troops as it battles 20 major wildfires amid scorching heat
Southern Europe is experiencing one of its worst wildfire seasons in two decades, and Spain is among the hardest-hit countries.
People with children walk in the sun as the Japanese government issued a heatstroke alert due to a heat wave, in Tokyo, on Aug. 5
JAPAN / Science & Health
Aug 12, 2025
Heat waves pose serious health risks for pregnant women, study shows
The Tokyo team found that the risk of serious complications for pregnant women increases the day after a heat wave.
Four units at the Gravelines nuclear power plant in northern France were shut down on Monday due to the "massive and unforeseeable presence of jellyfish" in the pumping stations for the water used to cool the reactors.
WORLD / Science & Health
Aug 12, 2025
Jellyfish shut down French nuclear reactors as heat wave builds
A marine heat wave, like the one intensifying off the west coast of France, can help jellyfish populations "bloom," and several beaches have been closed due to their invasion.
People huddle near a large fan blowing icy-cold mist at the Osaka Expo on July 12. Amid Japan's relentless summer heat, organizes have put myriad measures in place in order to keep guests safe.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change / OUR PLANET
Aug 10, 2025
Osaka Expo highlights the challenge of holding events in Japan's scorching summer
Giant umbrellas, mist fans and human-sized ice boxes are some of the many ways organizers are offering respite to visitors.
Recent heat waves and little rain may impact the rice harvest in Japan that typically starts in late summer, at a time when rice supplies have already been strained by adverse weather in recent years.
JAPAN
Aug 8, 2025
Japan’s rice crop at risk as farms face record-breaking heat
Weather extremes may impact the harvest that typically starts in late summer, at a time when rice supplies have already been strained by adverse weather in recent years.
Trees burn during a wildfire near in Saint-Laurent-de-la-Cabrerisse in southern France on Wednesday.
WORLD
Aug 7, 2025
Deadly wildfires in southwest France burn area larger than Paris
The fire, which has killed one, has cut power to thousands of homes and is being tackled by around 2,100 firefighters assisted by aircraft.
A worker tries to cool down a street in central Tokyo Tuesday as wide swaths of the Kanto region sweltered under intense heat. In Gunma Prefecture, the temperature rose 41.8 degrees Celsius, the highest ever recorded in Japan.
JAPAN / Society
Aug 5, 2025
Japan swelters as previous heat record melts
The country experienced its new hottest day ever on Tuesday at 41.8 degrees Celsius, beating the previous record set just last week.
People cool off under water jets in Madrid on Monday.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Aug 5, 2025
'Silent killer': the science of tracing climate deaths in heat waves
Heat can claim tens of thousands of lives during European summers but it usually takes months to count the cost. Scientists are aiming to change that with faster studies.
People shield their eyes from the sun as they walk through a street on a hot day in Tokyo on July 26.
JAPAN
Aug 4, 2025
Extreme heat in Japan set to peak this week
Temperatures are particularly high in the Hokuriku region, where the mercury has exceeded 38 degrees Celsius in many areas.
A tourist walks with a paper fan in the Dotonbori area in the city of Osaka on Thursday amid high temperatures.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Aug 2, 2025
Japan logs hottest July for third year in a row
As the average temperature in June also hit a new record this year, the average summer temperature from June to August is likely to rewrite the record, too, experts said.
Japan's temperature soared to a record 41.2 degrees Celsius in Tanba, Hyogo Prefecture, on Wednesday, surpassing the previous high of 41.1 C.
JAPAN / Breaking
Jul 30, 2025
Japan marks highest-ever temperature of 41.2 C in Hyogo
The mercury hit the above-human temperature of 41.2 C in the city of Tanba, Hyogo Prefecture, as authorities urged people to take precautions to avoid heatstroke.
Philippine bid to acquire used Japanese warships gains steam
Tokyo is looking to transfer Abukuma-class vessels to the Philippines as part of broader efforts to boost the defense capabilities of like-minded neighbors amid growing Chinese military assertiveness in the region.
Koshien’s dark summer forces reckoning for high school baseball
Koryo High School players greet their cheering section after beating Hokkaido’s Asahikawa Shiho in the first round of Summer Koshien on Aug. 7. The school withdrew three days later as a bullying scandal enveloped the team.
Akazawa's trip to Washington for tariff talks abruptly canceled
Ryosei Akazawa, Japan's chief tariff negotiator, had been set to fly to Washington on Thursday.
Confusion over Japan’s ‘hometown’ plan overshadows African development event
First Lady Yoshiko Ishiba (center, in white and blue dress) hosts an event on Japanese culture with the first ladies of African leaders on the sidelines of the Tokyo International Conference on African Development in Yokohama on Aug. 21.
Mitsubishi’s wind-power retreat a blow to Japan's alternative-energy goals
Wind turbines in the town of Happo in Akita prefecture. Wind power is a key part of Japan's alternative energy drive.
Virtual singer Kaf's music becomes magic in 'Kamitsubaki City Under Construction'
Virtual singer Kaf got her start in 2018 by posting songs and covers to YouTube. Now, after having performed live shows at major venues including Tokyo’s Nippon Budokan, she is turning to voice acting and starring in the new anime series “Kamitsubaki City Under Construction.”
Can anime carry the memories of World War II?
Many schools in Japan show "Grave of the Fireflies" as educational material to tell the emotionally grueling story of a boy who has no means to prevent his sister from starving to death.
Koshien’s dark summer forces reckoning for high school baseball
Koryo High School players greet their cheering section after beating Hokkaido’s Asahikawa Shiho in the first round of Summer Koshien on Aug. 7. The school withdrew three days later as a bullying scandal enveloped the team.
Is Kishida plotting a return of the king? Or would he rather stay a kingmaker?
Former Prime Minister Fumio Kishida chairs a plenary session at the Ninth Tokyo International Conference on African Development in Yokohama on Aug. 21.
Japanese prefectures break with labor ministry on minimum wage
The ministry of labor has suggested a 6% minimum wage increase, but most prefectures reporting so far are opting to go slightly higher.

Podcast

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