Cooling costs soar in Japan, ‘lovebugs’ swarm South Korea as East Asia bakes in high heat

As the monsoon belatedly dumps rains on South and Southeast Asia, the region’s East is bracing for a sweltering summer, with unseasonable swarms of “lovebugs” early in South Korea and Japan’s meteorological authorities cautioning that the coming months are going to be even hotter than last year.

A hot June looks set to be bested by a hotter July, a trajectory of climbing temperatures caused by the climate crisis and now exacerbated by the La Nina weather phenomenon, is likely to put pressure on health authorities to keep the eldest and poorest safe from the dangers of heatstroke and dehydration.

In Japan, a survey by home appliance manufacturer Panasonic Corp found that 40 per cent of people do not plan to use air conditioning this summer, a response apparently triggered by shrinking household budgets.

The poll also revealed 10 per cent of Japanese have set out to “tolerate” the heat no matter what in the coming months, while a further 33 per cent said they would try not to use the cooling device – but expected to relent if the temperatures become unbearable.

Alarmingly, most those saying they would attempt to get through the summer without air conditioning were elderly who live on pensions and savings, leaving them highly vulnerable to heatstroke.

And cases are already beginning to show up, with 19 people between the ages of 14 and 91 admitted to hospitals across Japan on June 25, with one person reported to be in serious condition.

Temperatures hit records for the month on June 24, reaching 36.4 degrees Celsius (97.5 degrees Fahrenheit) in Chiba prefecture’s Ichihara and Sano in Tochigi prefecture, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA). Central Tokyo baked at 34.7 degrees.

Those figures may be shy of the record