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Foie gras paired with wasabi, Japanese-style open kitchens and a fierce work ethic: Joel Robuchon, hailed as “chef of the century” on his death this week, drew great inspiration from Japan, where 10 establishments now bear his name.  The world’s most-starred Michelin chef developed an immediate love for sushi, sake and Japan itself after arriving for the first time in 1976, his luggage bulging with “forbidden or unknown produce like shallots, tarragon and chives,” he once recalled. Yosuke Suga, who worked with the famously perfectionist Robuchon for 17 years, told AFP that he would often talk fondly of his first impressions of Japan.  “He arrived at Narita airport and saw how (the handrails) of the escalator were cleaned meticulously. And he said to himself, ‘Japan is somewhere I can work’,” said Suga, now 41 and running his own restaurant.  Kenichiro Sekiya, head chef at Robuchon’s “L’Atelier” restaurant in Tokyo, says the French master quickly became inspired by Japanese ingredients and surprised his hosts with the way he used them. “He used wasabi, soy sauce, yuzu citrus and shichimi (a blend of seven spices with chilli) to give accents to various food,” said Sekiya, 38, recalling his amazement when Robuchon added wasabi cream to foie gras terrine.  “Japanese have fixed ideas for the spices so it’s hard to break them. But Robuchon did his own interpretation and used them in his own way, which Japanese wouldn’t normally do,” he said.  And one of Robuchon’s most famous innovations — the concept of the “Atelier” (or “workshop”), where customers dine in close proximity to the chefs, perched on high stools at a bar counter — was also inspired by Japan.  “He really wanted a connection with customers over a counter. Sushi chefs in Japan make sushi in front of customers and communicate with them,” said Kazutoshi Narita, a pastry chef who worked for 10 years at Robuchon restaurants in Tokyo, New York and Taipei.  In 2003, Robuchon opened his first Atelier restaurant in the central Tokyo district of Roppongi and his photo still overlooks the chefs there, dressed all in black as they prepare meals in full sight of the diners. He would fly to Tokyo at least three times a year to oversee his restaurant empire and would rarely miss the opportunity to enjoy his beloved sushi at Sukiyabashi Jiro, where US president Barack Obama dined with Japanese PM Shinzo Abe.  Sekiya said Robuchon, who at one time held 32 Michelin stars, at first underestimated how hard it was to make sushi. “Apparently sushi was just sliced fish placed on rice to him at first,” he said. “I heard he became fascinated by sushi after learning that it was actually something more delicate.”  Like most chefs, Robuchon was known to drive his staff hard and the famous Japanese work ethic appealed to him.  “He was very demanding in terms of quality but we liked that a lot. We respected that and were happy to work with him. We’re maybe a bit masochistic,” joked Suga.  After his death from pancreatic cancer in Geneva on Monday, Narita went to Robuchon’s three-starred chateau restaurant in the trendy Ebisu district to honour his memory in his own way — with champagne and cheese. “Chefs at Robuchon restaurants used to get together at the kitchen counter for champagne and camembert after work,” said Narita.  “That was my most peaceful moment with him. It was a moment in which I felt a sense of achievement.”  And Robuchon leaves more than just recipes and inspiration in Japan — his 30-year-old half-Japanese son now runs a wine business in the southern city of Fukuoka.

A powerful typhoon was churning towards Japan on Wednesday, prompting the weather agency to warn of heavy rain and strong winds and forcing airlines to cancel scores of flights. Typhoon Shanshan was expected to be less than 150 kilometres from Tokyo around midnight on Wednesday (1500 GMT), sparking fears the busy morning commute in the capital could be disrupted the following day. The typhoon is coming "very close to the Pacific coast" of eastern Japan, centring on Tokyo, and is expected to move towards northern provinces from late Wednesday and early Thursday, the meteorological agency said. "There are also risks that it may make landfall," it said, warning it could dump 350 millimetres  of rain over the greater Tokyo region over the 24 hours by Thursday noon. "Please be fully on alert against mudslides, flooding in low-lying areas, flooding of rivers, violent winds, high waves and high tides," the agency said in a statement, urging residents to obey any evacuation instructions. In the Chiba region east of Tokyo, local officials issued their lowest-level evacuation warning for some residents and urged others to be on stand-by for evacuation orders. The slow-moving storm is packing maximum gusts of 180 kilometres per hour and was estimated to be 250 kilometres  southeast of Tokyo at 0600 GMT Wednesday. With rain and winds expected to intensify later in the day, television networks urged Tokyo workers to go home early. Airlines have cancelled scores of domestic and international flights to and from Tokyo's Haneda airport and the main Narita Airport east of the capital. The ANA group scrapped 36 domestic flights as well as international flights from Narita to Shanghai and Hong Kong. The typhoon is the latest weather front to batter Japan, which has been sweating through a record and deadly heatwave. This followed devastating heavy rain in central and western parts of the country in July. The record rains caused flooding and landslides that killed over 200 people and devastated swathes of the country.

A Japanese medical school deliberately cut women's entrance test scores for at least a decade, an investigation panel said on Tuesday, calling it a "very serious" instance of discrimination, but school officials denied having known of the manipulations. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has made a priority of creating a society "where women can shine", but women in Japan still face an uphill battle in employment and face hurdles returning to work after childbirth, a factor behind a falling birth rate. The alterations were uncovered in an internal investigation of a graft accusation this spring regarding the entrance exam for Tokyo Medical University, sparking protests and anger. Lawyers investigating bribery accusations in the admission of the son of a senior education ministry official said they concluded that his score, and those of several other men, were boosted "unfairly" - by as much as 49 points, in one case. They also concluded that scores were manipulated to give men more points than women and thus hold down the number of women admitted, since school officials felt they were more likely to quit the profession after having children, or for other reasons. "This incident is really regrettable - by deceptive recruitment procedures, they sought to delude the test takers, their families, school officials and society as a whole," lawyer Kenji Nakai told a news conference. "Factors suggesting very serious discrimination against women was also part of it," added Nakai, one of the external lawyers the university hired to investigate the incident. The investigation showed that the scores of men, including those reappearing after failing once or twice, were raised, while those of all women, and men who had failed the test at least three times, were not. The lawyers said they did not know how many women had been affected, but it appeared that women's test scores had been affected going back at least a decade. At a news conference, senior school officials bowed and apologized, pledging to "sincerely" consider their response, such as possible compensation. However, they said they had been unaware of the manipulation. "Society is changing rapidly and we need to respond to that and any organization that fails to utilize women will grow weak," said Tetsuo Yukioka, the school's executive regent and chair of its diversity promotion panel. "I guess that thinking had not been absorbed." No immediate comment was available from the government or the education ministry official who figures in the case. Entrance exam discrimination against women was "absolutely unacceptable", Education Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi told reporters last week. Reports of the incident set off a furore in which women recounted their own experiences of discrimination on social media with the hashtag, "It's okay to be angry about sexism." Some referred to the potential costs exacted in a rapidly aging society. "I'm 29 and will probably never get married," said one poster. "Women are pitied if they don't, but Japanese women who are married and working and have kids end up sleeping less than anybody in the world. To now hear that even our skills are suppressed makes me shake with rage." Another said, "I ignored my parents, who said women don't belong in academia, and got into the best university in Japan. But in job interviews I'm told 'If you were a man, we'd hire you right away.' "My enemy wasn't my parents, but all society itself." 

A bell tolled Monday in Hiroshima as Japan marked 73 years since the world's first atomic bombing, with the city's mayor warning that rising nationalism worldwide threatened peace. The skies over Hiroshima's Peace Memorial Park were clear, just as they were on August 6, 1945, when an American B-29 bomber dropped its deadly payload on the port city dotted with military installations, ultimately killing 140,000 people. Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui, standing at the park near ground zero for the annual ceremony, appealed for a world without nuclear weapons and sounded the alarm over increasing nationalism. Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui (R) offers a new list of A-bomb dead, including individuals who died since last year's anniversary from the side effects of radiation at the Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima. Without naming specific nations, he warned that "certain countries are explicitly expressing self-centred nationalism and modernising their nuclear arsenals." They were "rekindling tensions that had eased with the end of the Cold War", he added. He urged the abolition of nuclear weapons, in a year when President Donald Trump pledged to increase the US nuclear arsenal. "If the human family forgets history or stops confronting it, we could again commit a terrible error. That is precisely why we must continue talking about Hiroshima," Matsui said. "Efforts to eliminate nuclear weapons must continue." His call however highlighted Japan's contradictory relationship with nuclear weapons. Japanese officials routinely argue that they oppose atomic weapons but the nation's defence is dependent on the US nuclear umbrella. New relations This year's ceremony comes amid a diplomatic push for the denuclearisation of North Korea that saw Trump and the North's leader Kim Jong Un hold unprecedented talks. Japan has largely maintained a hard line on Pyongyang, in particular pushing for movement on citizens abducted decades ago by North Korean agents. But reports suggest Tokyo is considering a summit soon between Kim and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, with local media floating a possible meeting on the sidelines of an international forum in Russia's Vladivostok next month. "Ultimately, I myself will have to directly face chairman Kim Jong Un and engage in dialogue and resolve the nuclear, missile and, above all, the all-important abduction issue, and then build new Japan-North Korea relations," Abe said in Hiroshima on Monday. Abe, whose government has chosen not to participate in the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, said Japan had a responsibility to bridge the gap between nuclear and non-nuclear nations. "In recent years, it has become evident that gaps exist among countries about ways to proceed with nuclear arms reduction," Abe told the ceremony, without directly referring to the treaty. "Our nation, while maintaining our (non-nuclear weapons) principles, will patiently work to serve as a bridge between the two sides and lead efforts by the international community" to reduce nuclear weapons, Abe said. Japan suffered two nuclear attacks by the United States at the end of World War II -- first in Hiroshima and then in Nagasaki three days later. The bombings claimed the lives of 140,000 people in Hiroshima and 74,000 people in Nagasaki. Barack Obama became the first sitting US president to visit Hiroshima in May 2016.

A Japanese freelance journalist being held by militants in Syria appeared to surface on video published by Japanese media on Wednesday, pleading for help after three years in captivity, the government said. Japan's top government spokesman said he believed the man is Jumpei Yasuda. The bearded man, in an orange jumpsuit, is kneeling, surrounded by two hooded gunmen in black. In the video shown on various media websites, he says in Japanese in a strained voice, ‘My name is Umar. I am South Korean. Today’s date is July 25, 2018. I am in a terrible situation. Please help me immediately.’ It was not clear why he identified himself as Korean or used that name. ‘It is the government's prime responsibility to protect Japanese, and we are making the utmost efforts, using various information networks,’ Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told a regular news conference. He declined to comment further. A Foreign Ministry official said the government believes Yasuda holds Japanese nationality. Yasuda was reported by Japanese media as being captured by an al Qaeda affiliate after entering Syria from Turkey in 2015. Since then, he has appeared occasionally in online videos, his hair greying, lengthening and becoming more unkempt. Japanese would-be soldier of fortune Haruna Yukawa was captured by the self-styled Islamic State after slipping into Aleppo in August 2014. His friend, journalist Kenji Goto, sought to help Yukawa and was also captured. Both were beheaded in early 2015.

Narita airport, Japan's main international gateway, was forced to shut one of its two runways on Monday when a plane entered the wrong taxiway after landing, local media reported. The Boeing 787 Air Canada flight from Montreal, carrying about 210 passengers and crew, was stranded for hours on the taxiway under construction alongside the runway, public broadcaster NHK said. There were no reports of injuries at the airport east of Tokyo. Work began to tow away the aircraft five hours after it entered the partially-paved taxiway, said NHK. Six flights were cancelled and others diverted to alternative airports, the reports said. Narita handles 40 million passengers and 250,000 flights a year.

Japanese scientists said on Monday they will start clinical trials next month on a treatment for Parkinson's disease, transplanting ‘reprogrammed’ stem cells into brains, seeking a breakthrough in treating the neurodegenerative disorder. Parkinson's is caused by a lack of dopamine made by brain cells and researchers have long hoped to use stem cells to restore normal production of the neurotransmitter chemical. The clinical trials come after researchers at Japan's Kyoto University successfully used human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS) to restore functioning brain cells in monkeys last year. So-called iPS cells are made by removing mature cells from an individual - often from the skin or blood - and reprogramming them to behave like embryonic stem cells. They can then be coaxed into dopamine-producing brain cells. ‘This will be the world's first clinical trial using iPS cells on Parkinson's disease,’ Jun Takahashi, professor at Kyoto University's Centre for iPS Cell Research and Application, told a news conference. The centre is headed by Shinya Yamanaka, who in 2012 shared a Nobel Prize for medicine with a British scientist, John Gurdon, for the discovery that adult cells can be transformed back into embryo-like cells. ‘We intend to carry on conducting our research carefully, yet expeditiously, in coordination with Kyoto University Hospital, so that new treatment using iPS cells will be brought to patients as soon as possible,’ Yamanaka said in a statement. The fact that the clinical trial uses iPS cells rather than human embryonic cells means the treatment would be acceptable in countries such as Ireland and much of Latin America, where embryonic cells are banned. Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma Co Ltd has said it aims to manufacture and start selling cellular medicine based on the data from the clinical trials by the year ending March 2023. The company said, however, the target is solely its own and not a shared goal with Kyoto University.

A powerful typhoon buffeted Japan’s eastern coast yesterday evening, prompting local authorities to issue early evacuation orders, with western areas recently devastated by floods and landslides in the storm’s crosshairs. Typhoon Jongdari, packing winds of up to 180km (110 miles) an hour, is forecast to make landfall on the country’s main island yesterday night or early today, according to Japan’s  Meteorological Agency. TV footage showed high waves smashing onto rocks and seawalls on the eastern coastline and planes struggling to land amid strong winds. By 9pm (1200 GMT) the storm’s centre was located some 60km out to sea southeast of Omaezaki City. Kyodo news agency reported that one man was missing in Kanagawa Prefecture, near Tokyo, after several vehicles, including an ambulance, became stuck on a wave-battered  ocean road. Typhoon Jongdari is expected to barrel towards the western Chugoku region Sunday, where record rainfall earlier this month unleashed flooding and landslides, killing around 220 people and leaving more than 4,000 survivors still living in  temporary shelters. The weather agency warned of heavy rain, landslides, strong winds and high waves, and urged people to consider early  evacuation. “We want people especially in the downpour-hit regions to pay close attention to evacuation advisories,” meteorological agency official Minako Sakurai told reporters. The western city of Shobara in Hiroshima prefecture issued an evacuation order to some 36,400 residents as a precautionary measure, officials said. TV footage showed workers and residents hurriedly piling up sandbags to build temporary barriers against potential floods. “Although it has not rained here, we are urging people to evacuate before it gets dark,” Masaharu Kataoka, a city  official, said. More evacuation orders and advisories were issued in western Japan, including Kure in Hiroshima prefecture, where some 6,380 residents were urged to evacuate, news reports said. In Japan, evacuation orders are not mandatory and people often remain at home, and are later trapped by rapidly rising water or sudden landslides. “It’s going to deal a double punch,” a resident in Okayama told public broadcaster NHK, referring to the recent killer downpours and the incoming typhoon. “We are seriously  worried,” he said. More than 410 domestic flights have been cancelled so far because of Typhoon Jongdari, while ferry services connecting Tokyo with nearby islands were also cancelled due to high waves, news reports said. The flooding in the Chugoku region was Japan’s worst weather-related disaster in decades, and many residents of affected areas are still living in shelters or damaged homes. “We are fully ready 24 hours a day to evacuate residents,” Tadahiko Mizushima, an official of Okayama prefecture in Chugoku, said. “We are paying special attention to the areas where restoration of river banks is underway as it would be the first heavy rain since the disaster.” Officials are particularly cautious after the deadly downpours because many people did not heed evacuation orders and became trapped. Some critics said the orders were issued too late.

A powerful typhoon buffeted Japan's eastern coast on Saturday evening, prompting local authorities to issue early evacuation orders, with western areas recently devastated by floods and landslides in the storm's crosshairs. Typhoon Jongdari, packing winds of up to 180 kilometres (110 miles) an hour, is forecast to make landfall on the country's main island on Saturday night or early Sunday, according to Japan's Meteorological Agency. TV footage showed high waves smashing onto rocks and seawalls on the eastern coastline and planes struggling to land amid strong winds. By 9pm (1200 GMT) the storm's centre was located some 60 kilometres out to sea southeast of Omaezaki City. Kyodo news agency reported that one man was missing in Kanagawa Prefecture, near Tokyo, after several vehicles, including an ambulance, became stuck on a wave-battered ocean road. Typhoon Jongdari is expected to barrel towards the western Chugoku region Sunday, where record rainfall earlier this month unleashed flooding and landslides, killing around 220 people and leaving more than 4,000 survivors still living in temporary shelters. The weather agency warned of heavy rain, landslides, strong winds and high waves, and urged people to consider early evacuation. ‘We want people especially in the downpour-hit regions to pay close attention to evacuation advisories,’ meteorological agency official Minako Sakurai told reporters. The western city of Shobara in Hiroshima prefecture issued an evacuation order to some 36,400 residents as a precautionary measure, officials said. - 'Seriously worried' - TV footage showed workers and residents hurriedly piling up sandbags to build temporary barriers against potential floods. ‘Although it has not rained here, we are urging people to evacuate before it gets dark,’ Masaharu Kataoka, a city official, told AFP. More evacuation orders and advisories were issued in western Japan, including Kure in Hiroshima prefecture, where some 6,380 residents were urged to evacuate, news reports said. In Japan, evacuation orders are not mandatory and people often remain at home, and are later trapped by rapidly rising water or sudden landslides. ‘It's going to deal a double punch,’ a resident in Okayama told public broadcaster NHK, referring to the recent killer downpours and the incoming typhoon. ‘We are seriously worried,’ he said. More than 410 domestic flights have been cancelled so far because of Typhoon Jongdari, while ferry services connecting Tokyo with nearby islands were also cancelled due to high waves, news reports said. The flooding in the Chugoku region was Japan's worst weather-related disaster in decades, and many residents of affected areas are still living in shelters or damaged homes. ‘We are fully ready 24 hours a day to evacuate residents,’ Tadahiko Mizushima, an official of Okayama prefecture in Chugoku, told AFP. ‘We are paying special attention to the areas where restoration of river banks is underway as it would be the first heavy rain since the disaster.’ Officials are particularly cautious after the deadly downpours because many people did not heed evacuation orders and became trapped. Some critics said the orders were issued too late. ‘We are afraid that people may not be able to evacuate due to strong wind or floods blocking evacuation routes,’ Hiroshima governor Hidehiko Yuzaki told reporters. ‘I would like people to evacuate in advance so that they can save their lives,’ Yuzaki said. Japan is now in typhoon season, and is regularly struck by major storm systems during the summer and autumn.

A powerful typhoon is on track to batter parts of western Japan that were hit earlier this month by devastating flooding and landslides, Japanese officials warned on Friday. Typhoon Jongdari is currently packing winds of nearly 200 kilometres an hour and is forecast to hit the country's main island on Saturday night, Japan's Meteorological Agency said  It is taking a relatively rare northwest course, which will put the disaster-hit areas directly in its crosshairs. Most typhoons that cross Japan track northeast. Authorities are warning of heavy rain, landslides, strong winds and high waves, and urging people to consider early evacuation. On Friday, the storm was about 1,200 kilometres southwest of Tokyo, heading towards Chichijima Island, but it is expected to barrel towards the western Chugoku region by late Saturday. The region was hit earlier this month by record rainfall that caused flooding and landslides, killing around 220 people. It was Japan's worst weather-related disaster in decades, and many residents of affected areas are still living in shelters or damaged homes. "Since this will be the first heavy rain since the downpours, residents need to be fully on alert," Ryuta Kurora, chief forecaster at the weather agency, told reporters. "In the disaster zone, even normal rainfall could lead to damage from landslides or flooding of rivers," Kurora said. "The situation has significantly changed" because of the disaster in western Japan, he said. "Early evacuation is really needed."  Officials are particularly cautious after the deadly rains earlier this month because many people became trapped after failing to heed evacuation orders, while some critics said orders were issued too late. Local authorities in affected areas were bracing for the incoming storm even as residents continued to clear mud from their houses and vehicles. In the remote town of Kumano in Hiroshima prefecture, local officials scrambled to devise ways to keep 24,000 residents informed about the incoming typhoon. "We are making announcements through a network of loudspeakers set up across our town," said Yoshihiro Minpo, a disaster management official. The town was considering asking residents to avoid visiting homes that were damaged in the rains over the weekend, particularly in one neighbourhood that was badly hit by huge, killer landslides, he told AFP. "We are using our own FM radio station, as well as an emergency announcement system to deliver messages to area mobile phones," he said. Japan is now in typhoon season, and is regularly struck by major storm systems during the summer and autumn.

Japan on Thursday executed the last members of the cult sentenced to death for their role in the fatal 1995 sarin attack on the Tokyo subway, weeks after the group's leader was hanged. The execution of the six Aum Shinrikyo members, years after they were put on death row, draws a line under the horrific attack which shocked the world and prompted national soul-searching over the group and its crimes. "Today the state executed six people," Justice Minister Yoko Kamikawa said at a press conference. "I ordered the executions after extremely careful consideration." In all, 13 Aum members, including the cult's near-blind leader Shoko Asahara, were on death row for crimes including the 1995 sarin attack on Tokyo's subway. Local media said authorities wanted the death sentences against the Aum members to be carried out before Japan's emperor abdicates next year, when a new imperial era will begin. Since the Aum's crimes were committed during the Heisei era of the current emperor, authorities wanted the executions complete before the new era begins, local media reported. Subway attack Some of the Aum's victims said it would be hard to simply move on. "With the 13 members executed, perhaps the case is closed from the point of view of criminal justice," Shizue Takahashi, whose husband was killed in the subway attack, told reporters. "(But) the damage done to the victims continues even after the executions. I find it very hard." The Aum gained international infamy with the 1995 sarin attack on the Tokyo subway during rush hour, which killed 13 people and injured thousands more. Members of the group released the chemical in liquid form at five points throughout the subway network, and soon commuters began struggling to breathe, staggering from trains with their eyes watering. Others keeled over, foaming at the mouth, with blood streaming from their noses. The attack plunged the capital into chaos, and prompted a crackdown on the cult's headquarters in the foothills of Mount Fuji, where authorities discovered a plant capable of producing enough sarin to kill millions. Aum members, including those executed this month, were also convicted of crimes including an additional sarin attack in the town of Matsumoto the year before the Tokyo attack, and the murder of an anti-cult lawyer and his family. Many of the group's members remain in prison. The 13 cult members spent years on death row as prosecutors investigated their crimes, and some activists opposed the executions, fearing the members would be elevated to the status of martyrs. But victims of the group's attacks welcomed the execution of Asahara and six other Aum members earlier this month. Asahara developed his cult in the 1980s, and at one point the wild-haired "guru" had at least 10,000 followers, including the doctors and engineers who produced the group's chemical agents.  Despite the crackdown on the Aum, it was never formally banned.

Two weeks into Japan’s blistering heatwave, at least 80 people have died and thousands have been rushed to emergency rooms, as officials yesterday urged citizens to stay indoors to avoid temperatures exceeding 40 degrees Celsius (104°F) in some areas. The government said it may pay to help state schools install air conditioners and suggested extending summer vacations, which started this week for many students. While most schools in Tokyo have coolers, few in rural areas do. “Record temperatures are continuing across the country and emergency measures to protect students and their well-being has become an issue,” chief cabinet secretary Yoshihide Suga told a news briefing. Public broadcaster NHK advised frequent sips of water to keep people hydrated, advised them to restore salt levels depleted by sweat, and stay indoors. It has also aired videos with instructions on treating victims of mild heat-stroke. Temperatures neared 40 degrees C yesterday in many cities, just off Monday’s record of 41.1 C in the city of Kumagaya northwest of the capital. Temperatures in central Tokyo, where an Olympic stadium is being built, hovered near 35 degrees C. People turned up their air-conditioning, driving prices on the Japan Electric Power Exchange to their highest in five years, exchange data showed, the second week that they have hit multi-year highs. More people are dying from the heat, figures from the Fire and Defence Management Agency (FDMA) show. In the week to July 22, 65 people died, versus 12 the previous week and only three in the seven days prior, the FDMA said. At least 13 more people died on Monday, the Kyodo newswire said. “The elderly make up the vast majority of deaths,” said Fumiaki Fujibe, a researcher in the geography department of Tokyo Metropolitan University. “About half of the people sent to emergency rooms are over 65, but they account for 80% of the deaths.” In its bid documents to host the event, the city described the months of July and August as “having many days of mild and sunny weather” that “provide an ideal climate for athletes to perform”. But there could be some respite in store. The heat is expected to ease slightly this week as a high pressure zone responsible for it moves west and east, allowing moist air to bring rain to some scorched areas, the Japan  Meteorological Agency said.

An "unprecedented" heatwave in Japan has killed at least 65 people in one week, government officials said on Tuesday, with the weather agency now classifying the record-breaking weather as a "natural disaster." In the week to Sunday at least 65 people died of heat stroke while 22,647 people were hospitalised, the Fire and Disaster Management Agency said in a statement. Both figures are "the worst-ever for any week during summer" since the agency began recording fatalities resulting from heat stroke in July 2008, an agency spokesman told AFP. The Fire and Disaster Management Agency said on Tuesday that a total of 80 people have died from the heat since the beginning of July, and over 35,000 have been hospitalised. Among those killed was six-year-old school boy who lost consciousness on his way back from a field trip.  "As a record heatwave continues to blanket the country, urgent measures are required to protect the lives of schoolchildren," top government spokesman Yoshihide Suga told reporters on Tuesday. The government said it would supply funds to ensure all schools are equipped with air conditioners by next summer. Less than half of Japan's public schools have air conditioning, and the figure is only slightly higher at public kindergartens. School holidays Suga said the government would also consider extending this year's summer school holidays as the heatwave drags on. On Monday, the city of Kumagaya in Saitama outside Tokyo set a new national heat record, with temperatures hitting 41.1 Celsius. And temperatures over 40 degrees were registered for the first time in Tokyo's metro area, where the government is promoting Uchimizu, a tradition where water is sprinkled onto the ground, as part of a summer heat awareness campaign. It was marginally cooler on Tuesday -- 36 degrees in Tokyo according to the national weather agency -- but temperatures remained well above normal in most of the country, and little relief is forecast.  "We are observing unprecedented levels of heat in some areas," weather agency official Motoaki Takekawa said late on Monday.  The heatwave "is fatal, and we recognise it as a natural disaster," he told reporters. The agency warned that much of the country will continue baking in temperatures of 35 degrees or higher until early August. Officials have urged people to use air conditioning, drink sufficient water and rest often. Japan's summers are notoriously hot and humid, and hundreds of people die each year from heatstroke, particularly the elderly in the country's ageing society. The heatwave follows record rainfall that devastated parts of western and central Japan with floods and landslides that killed over 220 people. And many people in the affected areas are still living in damaged homes or shelters and working outdoors on repairs, putting them at great risk. The record-breaking weather has revived concerns about the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, which will be held in two years time in July and August. Tokyo governor Yuriko Koike this week promised that the heat would be given the same priority as measures to counter terrorism. "It's just as important because the purpose is also to protect people's lives," she told reporters, comparing Japan's summer to "living in a sauna".

Japanese officials issued new warnings on Monday as a deadly heatwave blankets the country, producing record high temperatures in Tokyo just two years before the city hosts the 2020 Summer Olympics. Officials said last week that the heatwave had killed at least 15 people and forced the hospitalisation of over 12,000 others in the first two weeks of July. But the death toll may be more than double that, with Kyodo News agency reporting 11 people died on Saturday alone across Japan. An updated official toll is expected later this week. The heatwave has toppled temperature records across the country, with Kumagaya in Saitama outside Tokyo setting a new nationwide record on Monday with temperatures hitting 41.1 Celsius.  And in western Tokyo's Ome, temperatures hit 40.3 degrees Celsius, the first time temperatures over 40 have been recorded in Tokyo's metro area. Records fell at 13 other observation stations across the country, with more than a dozen cities and towns seeing temperatures around 40, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.  "People in areas where temperatures are as high as 35 degrees or higher should be extremely careful" to avoid heatstroke, meteorological agency official Minako Sakurai told AFP. "And at even lower temperatures, the heat can be dangerous for small children and elderly people, and depending on the environment and activities you are doing," she warned. "People should be all the more careful as many people must be exhausted after days of cruelly hot weather," she added. Japan's disaster management agency has urged people to use airconditioning, drink sufficient water and rest often while at work. The heatwave follows record rainfall that devastated parts of western and central Japan with floods and landslides that killed over 220 people. Japan's summers are notoriously hot and humid, and hundreds of people die each year from heatstroke, particularly the elderly in the country's ageing society. But this year's record temperatures have surprised residents and officials alike, and revived concerns about the 2020 Summer Olympics, which will be held in July and August in Tokyo. Olympic officials and Tokyo's local government are touting measures from solar-blocking paint on roads to mobile misting stations to tackle the heat.

Japan’s severe heatwave killed at least 15 people and sent more than 12,000 to hospital in the first two weeks of July, official figures show as the temperature neared 40 degrees C (104F) in many cities yesterday.  Twelve people died of heatstroke in the week ending July 15 after three perished in the preceding week, according to latest data. More than 9,900 people were rushed to hospital during the week to mid-July, jumping from 2,700 in the previous week, the Fire and Disaster Management Agency said. The scorching weather shows no signs of easing. Kyodo News agency reported that at least 11 people, mostly elderly citizens, died on Saturday alone from suspected heatstroke. A total of 3,091 ambulances were dispatched in Tokyo on Saturday, a record for a single day, it said. The weather agency said Sunday’s temperatures exceeded 35 degrees C at 233 observation points across the nation by mid-afternoon. It hit a local record of 39.8 degrees C in the central city of Gujo Sunday afternoon, while in some parts of Tokyo the temperature rose past 37 degrees. The weather agency issued a warning of extraordinary high temperatures for most regions of Japan’s main island. “Risks of heatstrokes are particularly high,” it said, urging citizens to drink enough water and use curtains and air  conditioning. The education ministry has told schools to postpone outdoor activities on hot days. A six-year-old boy died of heatstroke last week after a school outing in sweltering weather.

A blistering heatwave smothered swathes of flood-hit western Japan yesterday, hampering clean-up efforts as survivors and relief workers toil in stifling temperatures a week after devastating inundations that killed more than 200 people. Tens of thousands of rescue workers are still digging through the debris for bodies after Japan’s worst weather-related disaster in over three decades, which saw record downpours spark flash flooding and landslides across the region. The toll of 219 is expected to continue to rise, with at least 21 still missing, while the punishing heatwave has pushed the thermometer above 35C and raised fears for vulnerable people. Some 4,700 survivors were forced to evacuate the disaster area, where homes were reduced to rubble by the floods and landslides. Many remain in shelters, while others have been left without water supply. Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga warned survivors, volunteers and the 64,000 rescue workers in the disaster zone of the dangers of heatstroke. “We are operating in tough conditions, with a severe heatwave in this region,” Koji Kunitomi, a spokesman at the disaster management department in flood-hit Okayama prefecture, told AFP. Sweltering summer weather has swept across Japan in recent days, sending temperatures surging just days after the record rainfall. The country’s meteorological agency has warned that the heat is “more severe” than normal, with temperatures in Okayama hitting a high of 36.8C yesterday, compared to an average high of 31C in the city. On Sunday, local media reported that three people had died and more than 2,000 were sent to hospital across the nation due to heatstroke. Television footage of the relief efforts in western Japan showed survivors and volunteers struggling to clear debris under the intense sun. The body of one victim covered in a blue tarpaulin was carried from a destroyed house in Aki, Hiroshima yesterday. The scale of the toll from the floods has prompted questions about whether authorities were properly prepared and acted effectively. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has pledged support for survivors’ businesses, including to provide interest-free loans to farmers in the region. “I want to take concrete measures to help people in the disaster areas revive their livelihoods as quickly as possible,” Abe told his ministers and government officials in Tokyo. The government has assessed agricultural losses of at least 48bn yen ($429mn), according to Suga.

Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe met yesterday with survivors of devastating rains that killed at least 204 people in flash flooding and landslides, as the government pledged more aid. The toll from the record rainfall has continued to rise, as rescue workers dig through the debris and find the remains of dozens of people reported missing. Top government spokesman Yoshihide Suga said yesterday that the toll was now 204 dead, with 28 people still missing. Around 73,000 rescue workers including police and troops “are working as hard as they can, with the priority on saving lives”, he said. Abe, who earlier this week cancelled a foreign tour, travelled for a second time to areas hit by the disaster. Television footage showed him visiting Seiyo in Ehime prefecture, where he visited homes damaged in the disaster and talked to residents trying to clean up. On Friday morning, meeting with the government’s taskforce on the disaster, Abe pledged new assistance. The government has already said it will tap around $18mn in reserve funds from this year’s budget, and Abe said $312 mn in tax grants would be disbursed early to local governments in affected areas. “I want local governments in disaster-hit areas to do all they can for emergency assistance and reconstruction, without hesitating to spend,” he said. The financial cost of the disaster is still being calculated, but the agriculture ministry said Friday it has assessed losses of at least $207mn. That figure is likely to rise further as clean-up operations continue and the scale of the damage becomes clear. It “could be the tip of the iceberg, as we are still unable to go and inspect fields,” ministry official Yasuhisa Hamanaka said. Agriculture Minister Ken Saito said the cost of some vegetables had already shot up between 10-30 % and that the ministry would be “closely monitoring” price hikes. The size of the toll in what is now Japan’s worst weather-related disaster in over three decades has prompted questions about whether authorities were properly prepared and acted effectively. The English-language Japan Times daily noted that the flooding that engulfed one district of Kurashiki in Okayama prefecture was in line with forecasts from local authorities. But “evacuation orders were issued by the city to residents in some areas of the district just minutes before the breach of the embankment took place,” the newspaper said in an editorial. “We need to scrutinise our defences against such disasters, identify the weak points and fix them.”

Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe met on Friday with survivors of devastating rains that killed at least 204 people in flash flooding and landslides, as the government pledged more aid. The toll from the record rainfall has continued to rise, as rescue workers dig through the debris and find the remains of dozens of people reported missing. Top government spokesman Yoshihide Suga said on Friday that the toll was now 204 dead, with 28 people still missing. Around 73,000 rescue workers including police and troops "are working as hard as they can, with the priority on saving lives", he said. Abe, who earlier this week cancelled a foreign tour, travelled for a second time to areas hit by the disaster. Television footage showed him visiting Seiyo in Ehime prefecture, where he visited homes damaged in the disaster and talked to residents trying to clean up. On Friday morning, meeting with the government's taskforce on the disaster, Abe pledged new assistance. The government has already said it will tap around $18mn in reserve funds from this year's budget, and Abe said $312mn in tax grants would be disbursed early to local governments in affected areas. "I want local governments in disaster-hit areas to do all they can for emergency assistance and reconstruction, without hesitating to spend," he said.  The financial cost of the disaster is still being calculated, but the agriculture ministry said Friday it has assessed losses of at least $207mn. That figure is likely to rise further as clean-up operations continue and the scale of the damage becomes clear. It "could be the tip of the iceberg, as we are still unable to go and inspect fields," ministry official Yasuhisa Hamanaka told AFP. Agriculture Minister Ken Saito said the cost of some vegetables had already shot up between 10-30% and that the ministry would be "closely monitoring" price hikes. The size of the toll in what is now Japan's worst weather-related disaster in over three decades has prompted questions about whether authorities were properly prepared and acted effectively. The English-language Japan Times daily noted that the flooding that engulfed one district of Kurashiki in Okayama prefecture was in line with forecasts from local authorities. But "evacuation orders were issued by the city to residents in some areas of the district just minutes before the breach of the embankment took place," the newspaper said in an editorial. "We need to scrutinise our defences against such disasters, identify the weak points and fix them."

Japanese rescue workers searched the ruins of homes Thursday looking for dozens of people still missing after deadly rains that killed more than 200 people. Operations were under way to dig out and clear up after the devastating floods and landslides that engulfed entire neighbourhoods. But with around 60 people still feared missing, local authorities said they would continue searching house by house looking for survivors, or victims. ‘The critical 72 hours have passed,’ acknowledged Mutsunari Imawaka, an official with Okayama prefecture, one of the worst-hit regions. ‘But we will continue our search believing there are still survivors,’ he told AFP. He said at least 18 people were missing in Okayama alone, and that several thousand people were checking houses across the region. Television footage showed dozens of rescuers, including troops, removing massive rocks with mechanical diggers from houses buried in landslides. Rescuers were also manually shovelling dirt to search for missing people. The rains are the deadliest weather-related disaster in over three decades in Japan, and the size of the death toll has raised questions about whether authorities were sufficiently prepared. Government spokesman Yoshihide Suga said the death toll from the disaster reached 201. ‘Since a lot of people are still unaccounted for, we are carrying out rescue operations under a policy that saving lives is the top priority,’ Suga told reporters. ‘Being determined to do whatever we can do as a government, we want to continue tackling restoration and reconstruction in the disaster zone,’ he added. On Wednesday Suga said there would be a review of disaster management policies. ‘In recent years we have seen damage from heavy rains that is much worse than in previous years,’ he said. ‘We have to review what the government can do to reduce the risks.’ Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who cancelled a foreign trip as the death toll rose this week, brushed aside criticism of the response during a trip to Okayama on Wednesday. ‘We have done our best since the disaster happened,’ local media quoted him as saying. On Thursday, he pledged to ramp up help for affected areas and said the government had secured around 71,000 temporary homes for evacuees. ‘Looking ahead, as we are expecting a massive amount of disaster-generated waste, I plan to send a team to each prefecture to support’ clean-up efforts, Abe said, according to footage of a morning meeting broadcast on local television. The government has already said it will set aside around $20 million for the relief effort and Abe said there would be financial support for local governments to help with the reconstruction effort. - Water, power shortages - Abe, who is expected to visit another disaster-affected area on Friday, said the government would ‘do everything we can so that people will not have to continue living in uncomfortable situations in shelters’. Around 10,000 people whose homes were buried by landslides or submerged in flood waters are still in shelters. Even some of those whose homes were not destroyed were struggling with water and electricity shortages. Military vehicles were being used to bring drinking water to areas without supplies, and a steady stream of volunteers were signing up to help the clean-up operation or offer donations. The scale of the disaster means the process of returning to normal life will be slow, officials said. ‘We don't know how long it will take for the recovery,’ said Okayama official Imawaka. ‘The roads and water systems are damaged, so it's hard to predict at this moment.’ And authorities warned against the ongoing risk of landslides, with rain forecast in some areas on Thursday, as well as heatstroke in other places where temperatures approached 35 degrees celsius.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe visited flood-stricken parts of Japan yesterday as the death toll from the worst weather disaster in 36 years reached 176 and health concerns rose amid scorching heat and the threat of new floods. Torrential rain caused floods and triggered landslides in western Japan last week, bringing death and destruction to neighbourhoods built decades ago near steep mountain slopes. At least 176 people were killed, the government said, with dozens missing in Japan’s worst weather disaster since 1982. In Kumano, a mountainside community in Hiroshima prefecture that was hit by a landslide last week, Ken Kirioka anxiously watched rescuers toiling through mud, sand and smashed houses to find the missing, including his 76-year-old father, Katsuharu. “He is old and has a heart condition. I prepared myself for the worst when I heard about the landslide on Friday night,” he said, pointing at a pile of mud and rubble where he said his father was buried. “He is an old-fashioned father who is hard-headed and does not talk much,” Kirioka said, adding he would stay until his father was found. “It would be too bad for him if a family member were not around”. Rescuers working under a scorching sun combed through heaps of wood and thickly caked mud in a search for bodies, helped by sniffer dogs. In some cases only the foundation of homes remained as they cut through debris with chain saws. With temperatures of 33 degrees Celsius or higher in the devastated areas in Okayama and Hiroshima prefectures, attention turned to preventing heat-stroke among rescue workers and in evacuation centres where thousands of people have sought shelter. People sat on thin mats on a gymnasium floor in one centre, plastic bags of belongings piled around them and bedding folded off to the side. Portable fans turned slowly as children cried. Abe, who cancelled an overseas trip to deal with the disaster, was criticised after a photograph posted on Twitter showed Abe and his defence minister at a party with lawmakers just as the rains intensified. After observing the damage from a helicopter flying over Okayama, one of the hardest-hit areas, Abe visited a crowded evacuation centre. He crouched down on the floor to speak with people, many of them elderly, and asked about their health. He clasped one man’s hands as they spoke. Later he told reporters the government would do everything it could to help the survivors. “We’ll cut through all the bureaucracy to secure the goods people need for their lives, to improve life in the evacuation centres — such as air conditioners as the hot days continue — and then secure temporary housing and the other things people need to rebuild their lives,” he said. Abe is up for re-election as party leader in September and has seen his popularity ratings edge back up after taking a hit over a cronyism scandal earlier this year. His government pledged an initial $4bn towards recovery on Tuesday, and a later special budget if needed. Officials turned to social media to warn of the additional danger of food-borne illnesses, urging people to wash their hands and take other measures against food poisoning. Evacuation orders were issued for 25 households in the city of Fukuyama after cracks were found in a reservoir. Water accumulating behind piles of debris blocking rivers also posed a danger after a swollen river rushed into a Fukuyama residential area on Monday, prompting more evacuation orders. The intensifying heat was expected to trigger thunderstorms yesterday, with authorities warning new landslides could be set off on mountainsides saturated with water. Japanese media yesterday focused on the timing of evacuation orders issued in the hard-hit Mabi district of Kurashiki city just minutes before a levee broke and water poured into the residential area. A number of the dead in Mabi were found in their homes, suggesting they did not have enough time to flee, media reports said.