Japan sets new record for heat-related ambulance transport incidents

From Kyodo

September 24 2025

TOKYO – Japan set a new record for ambulance transports due to heat-related illness this summer, the government said Wednesday, surpassing last year’s figure amid unprecedented heat waves and an unusually early end to the rainy season.

The Fire and Disaster Management Agency said in preliminary data that 99,573 people across Japan were taken to hospitals for heat-related illness between May 1 and Sunday. The figure exceeded the 97,578 cases recorded from May through September last year.

In 2025, there were 116 deaths, while 2,201 people suffered severe symptoms that led to hospitalizations of over three weeks, and 34,063 had moderate cases that needed shorter hospital stays. More than half of the patients were aged 65 or older.

The Japan Meteorological Agency said the country’s average temperature in June through August was 2.36 C above normal, the highest since records began in 1898, while the rainy season ended in late June in some regions, the earliest since 1951.