Temperature soars to 41.1 C in Kumagaya; highest ever in Japan – Saitama
Japan logged its highest-ever temperature of over 41 C on Monday as a deadly heat wave continued to grip wide areas of the country. The mercury hit 41.1 C in Kumagaya, Saitama Prefecture, near Tokyo, at 2:16 p.m., eclipsing the previous record of 41.0 C marked in August 2013 in Shimanto, Kochi Prefecture, while Tokyo also logged a record-high 40.8 C in the city of Ome, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency. Temperatures in Tajimi, Gifu Prefecture, rose to 40.5 C after the central Japan city already reported 40.7 C on Wednesday, the agency said.
The heat wave, which has persisted for weeks, has already claimed dozens of lives across Japan all while the country reels from destruction brought by torrential rains earlier this month. The scorching weather has resulted in the deaths of more than 40 people and sent tens of thousands to hospitals, according to a Kyodo News tally and local authorities. On Saturday alone, at least 11 people died from suspected heatstroke.
Through Monday, at least three people, all senior citizens, have died in prefectures surrounding Tokyo, according to the local authorities. The three are a 90-year-old man in Chichibu, Saitama Prefecture, an 89-year-old man in Namegata, Ibaraki Prefecture, and a 95-year-old woman in Sano, Tochigi Prefecture, they said. The Tokyo Fire Department dispatched ambulances 3,125 times on Sunday alone, apparently reflecting a surge in the number of people falling ill from scorching temperatures. More than 300 people were taken to hospitals for possible heatstroke as of Monday morning, it said. The agency has issued advisories over the scorching heat, urging people to drink water frequently and take measures against heatstroke.
Cancellations hit hotels, tours in western Japan after rain disaster – Osaka
Thousands of people are cancelling trips to popular tourist spots in western Japan, even though many of these destinations were left unscathed by the recent deadly rain disaster, local officials said Wednesday. Dogo Onsen in Matsuyama, Ehime Prefecture, known as one of Japan’s oldest hot springs, is usually bustling with Japanese and foreign tourists. But a local cooperative representing about 30 hot spring inns found that more than 3,000 people have cancelled their reservations at hotels and inns following torrential downpours earlier this month. Ehime, along with Hiroshima and Okayama prefectures, was hit hardest by the rain and ensuing flooding and mudslides, which left 223 people dead, according to the National Police Agency.
While Uwajima and other southern Ehime cities were devastated by the rain, the damage to Matsuyama was relatively limited, and the Dogo Onsen Honkan bathhouse, designated as an important cultural asset of Japan and a major tourist attraction, is operating as usual. Cancellations have similarly affected Hiroshima’s Miyajima island, home to the UNESCO World Heritage site of Itsukushima Shrine and its floating gate, as well as the historical quarter of Kurashiki, Okayama Prefecture, with many traditional buildings. “We have seen cancellations of tours and are worried that the impact may persist into the autumn, when the largest number of people come,” said a person involved in local tourism, adding mud flowing into the sea could obstruct operation of ferries to and from Miyajima.
The number of tour buses arriving at the scenic historical quarter of Kurashiki has also halved since the disaster, even though the area is distant from the Mabi area, where more than 4,000 houses were flooded. Amid drops in the number of guests, 51 hotels and lodgings within Okayama have decided to provide food and rooms for free for about 1,000 affected people with special needs until the end of this month. The prefectural government will shoulder the room costs. Washuzan Shimoden Hotel in Kurashiki has decided to accept, among others, infants, pregnant women, the elderly, and people with disabilities, since reservations until the end of August are roughly half the amount of an average year.
Japan probing abuse of health insurance system by foreign residents – Nationwide
The Japanese government has begun a nationwide probe into foreign residents exploiting the country’s public health insurance system, according to sources familiar with the matter. The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry is checking with municipalities to investigate cases involving foreigners who joined public insurance by illegitimately obtaining residential status partly to skirt paying costly medical fees, the sources said. The ministry will compile the findings of the survey in fall and discuss steps to prevent such abuse of the insurance system, which was not designed to take into account a time when foreigners would be receiving medical services in the country.
Japan had about 2.56 million foreign residents at the end of 2017, up for the fifth consecutive year, according to the Justice Ministry. Of the total, Chinese nationals accounted for the most at 29 percent, followed by South Koreans at 18 percent, and Vietnamese and Filipinos, both at 10 percent. With the government planning to rely more on foreign laborers to compensate for the country’s shortage of manpower — eyeing more than 500,000 foreign workers by 2025 — foreign residents are expected to increase further.
In Japan, all residents including foreigners must enroll in a health insurance plan provided by their employers, which also covers their dependents, or enroll for national health insurance at their local municipal offices. Even if they are not company employees, foreigners who stay in Japan for three months or longer for business or study purposes can apply for national health insurance coverage. But there have been a string of incidents whereby foreigners fraudulently obtained resident status, for example, by posing as students studying in Japan. In other cases, people whose family ties with foreign residents are questionable came from overseas to receive treatment in Japan.
Public health insurance coverage in Japan requires a policyholder to shoulder in principle 30 percent of the cost at medical institutions, with the remaining amount covered by the policy, in exchange for paying the monthly premiums. By taking advantage of the benefits of a high-cost medical expense scheme, which puts a cap on the monthly burden, policyholders can bring down the cost of expensive treatment by several hundred dollars a month.
