People are cooking meals on their cars to make a point about Japan’s hottest summer in a century

By
Rachel Genevieve Chia
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A photo of plastic drink displays in a cafe melting in the heatwave has been retweeted hundreds of times by Japanese Twitter users.
Twitter

Thanks to a record-breaking heatwave, a photo of plastic food displays melting in a shop window has gone viral on Japanese Twitter, while some people have started cooking food — such as ham, eggs and curry rice — on (or in) their cars to illustrate just how hot the weather is in Tokyo right now.

The country saw temperatures as high as 41 degrees in July, during which over 130 people died from heatstroke. The heat is expected to continue for the rest of August, according to the government.

Tokyo’s summer temperatures have been rising steadily for over a decade, causing the cherry blossom season to shift forward in recent years as trees flower early due to the warmth.

As sporting events and festivals are cancelled nationwide, the heat has created concern that athletes could suffer badly during Tokyo’s 2020 Summer Olympics. 

For now, most events will be held in an air-conditioned stadium, and the government is looking at other solutions, like implementing daylight savings time to push clocks two hours forward.