How to cool a city struggling with heatwaves

[Jilly_in_VA]

The heat of the Tokyo pavement is compounded by the Sun's reflection off high-rise apartment buildings and stores. A large group of overheated office workers rush by in suits and ties, drenched in sweat and panting heavily. Their daily lunch trip to the local convenience store a mere block away feels more like a marathon thanks to the sweltering heat.

Any local will attest that Tokyo is hot during the summer, reaching its peak in the humid months of July and August. In 2019, there were reportedly 162 deaths across Japan due to suspected heat-related illnesses after an extreme heatwave in the summer while in 2018 thousands of people were hospitalised in record temperatures that were declared a natural disaster by the country's weather agency.

The Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games kicked off with the opening ceremony on 23 July and run through until the Paralympics ends on 5 September, with just two weeks between the two events. But despite the uncertainty created by the Covid-19 pandemic, the Tokyo Organising Committee has been developing solutions to help athletes and members of the public cope with the high temperatures they are likely to encounter this year.

Although spectators are abscent from the Tokyo Olympics due to the pandemic, many of the technologies and ideas developed ahead of the Games could find wider applications in helping cities stay cool during heatwaves.

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20210728-how-tokyo-is-cooling-down-for-the-olympics

[jmbar2]

1. I lived in Tokyo for several years in the '80s

Summers were indeed hot. During the summer, the small market streets close by played recordings of Hawaiian music over loudspeakers. I asked about it one time, and a local said that it was to help you mentally transform the heat, and to imagine cool ocean breezes.

Hawaiian music was played in local areas all over the city. Also, dress standards were relaxed. It wasn't uncommon to see folks walking around in their cotton yukata in the evenings. It was charming.

[GPV]

2. I hadn't realized before how hot it gets over there.

[Jilly_in_VA]

3. I didn't either

My dad was in southern Japan for awhile during th eoccupation, and I had a friend who was raised in Kobe and then lived in Tokyo as a teenager, but neither of them mentioned it.

[GPV]

4. I guess it makes sense, but in my mind I'm always picturing snowy Mt. Fuji. I know that

Hawaii has tropical weather down low that doesn’t reach up into its mountains. I guess I should have figured Japan would be warmer lower down.

[Turbineguy]

5. Hot and muggy

[SWBTATTReg]

6. With all of the flood abatement efforts that the Japanese poured into their infrastructure efforts

over the years (hundreds of billions of yen and possibly more) to abate floods from typhoons etc., that they couldn't update these measures somewhat to circulate cooler air into the city and surrounding environment somehow.

I know that this is gee whiz type of thinking, on my part, but with as much amazing technologies they poured into their flood suppression techniques (I've watched a PBS special on their typhoon flood suppression efforts, I was impressed), I am surprised that they haven't invented some clever way to addressing these heat waves.