Blistering hot summer begins with a sweltering hot rainy season?

Is this a bad dream or are scorching sunny days persisting during the rainy season, which is supposed to be rainy? It’s the rainy season now, but heat waves keep hitting throughout Japan. The temperature in June continues to soar and knows no bounds. On June 25, Isesaki, Gunma Prefecture broke the record for the highest temperature ever recorded for the month of June in the country at 40.2 degrees Celsius due to a combination of the Föhn effect and the heat wave. Not only that, but other places around the world have also been experiencing the heat wave. Just the other day, the temperature reached up to 42 degrees Celsius in France, and in Pakistan a Cholera outbreak hit due to heat waves with temperatures that exceeded 50 degrees Celsius. Wildfires have also broken out throughout the world due to the dry weather.

The news we hear about the heat wave every day makes us feel like we can’t deny that the earth is being totally scorched. I hope it is just a delusion or a bad dream that the temperature will not stop rising around the world, the blistering hot weather and droughts will continue to strike in many places, and the earth will eventually burn up. However, I feel that it is unlikely that all of this will end as a nightmare. There is no way to stop global warming, and it’s getting worse. Therefore, the temperature will continue to climb every year. The temperature of the oceans also continues to rise, and the number of Japanese fish landings is now decreasing. We can no longer catch fish like we used to. Eating fish is a fundamental part of Japanese food culture, so the future of Japan is in crisis. Anyway, there is no doubt that the earth is now confronting a critical situation.

The world’s most read book, the Bible, actually tells of a natural phenomenon that predicts fervent heat is a sign of the end of the world. In the Book of Revelation, there are prophecies that talk about the end of the world. One passage mentions, “The sun will not beat down on them, nor any scorching heat.” It also warns in the End Times, “A third of the earth was burned up.” Chapter 16 further describes the Last Judgment, “The sun was allowed to scorch people with fire” and “They were seared by the intense heat.” It’s up to you to believe whether or not the prophecies from the Bible are true. However, when I look back at the recent abnormal climate changes, I cannot help but feel that the end of the world is near.

Be that as it may, the reality is that we still work in a hot warehouse every day, even in the midst of this heat wave. Our staff keeps making requests that say, “We need air conditioning in the warehouse!” The fact is that we have spent tens of millions of yen to install air conditioners in our warehouse and have made efforts to keep the warehouses as cool as possible. However, the warehouse is large and the ceiling is so high that the air conditioners have little effect. The air conditioning equipment hanging from the ceiling was installed in vain. We will be looking into setting up spot coolers, but with the current shortage of semiconductors, they seem to be in short supply. I want to do something so that everyone can work in a cooler workplace, but I’m afraid that this will end up being just another dream.

The battle against extreme heat will go on with no end in sight. If there is, it would mean the extinction of humankind. I hope this is just a bad dream.