Jun 27, 2021 Summer in Japan is not a fun prospect. While there are various things to look forward to — fireworks, beach visits and the Bon holidays among them — this quarter of the calendar is marked by one thing above all: the weather. Almost a month of the season is spent under the pulverizing humidity of Even more humidity follows the endless gray skies and downpours. “Record high” temperature news has become a running theme for Japan since 2018, when Kumagaya, Saitama Prefecture, clocked a record 41.4 degrees Celsius — matched in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka Prefecture, last year. Cities throughout Japan, including Tokyo, now experience consecutive days of 35-plus degrees; these heatwaves see reporters soliciting vox pops from passersby on TV news — “