🥵 Heatstroke Special Alert & Cooling Shelters Begin

❓ What's new?

Japan's Climate Change Adaptation Act, revised in 2023, took full effect on April 1, 2024, writing heat protection into law. The headline change is the new Heatstroke Special Alert. The regular Heatstroke Alert is issued when the WBGT heat index reaches 33 at any single point; the Special Alert fires only in extreme cases, when tomorrow's WBGT is forecast to hit 35 at every observation point across a prefecture. Municipalities now also designate air-conditioned public facilities as cooling shelters that anyone can enter when an alert is in effect.

👥 Who does this affect?

• ●All foreign residents living or working in Japan in summer
• ●Tourists visiting Japan in summer, especially July-August
• ●Outdoor workers, the elderly, children, and people with chronic illness
• ●Anyone staying in a home without air conditioning

🌏 Impact on foreign residents

Japanese summers grow more dangerous every year, and language barriers make it harder for foreigners to catch warnings, raising heatstroke risk. On a Special Alert day, avoid going out or working outside, and use a nearby cooling shelter (library, community center, city hall) as a free place to cool down. Get in the habit of checking the alert the day before via the Environment Ministry's heat-prevention site, its app, or a multilingual disaster app. When sightseeing, shift plans indoors on extreme-heat days.