After last year’s hottest summer on record, Japan announced a new moniker for days with temperatures of 40C (104F) or above. Japanese and foreign media have rendered the phrase “kokushobi” as “cruelly hot,” “brutally hot,” or “severely hot” day.
In a nationwide online survey, the term was the most popular, with “super extremely hot day” coming in second. Heatwaves and other extreme weather phenomena are growing more often and intense globally due to human activities like burning fossil fuels.
According to the Japan Times newspaper, Japan’s Meteorological Agency (JMA) described the heat on Friday using the word koku, which means severe or cruel. About 478,000 people responded to the survey, which was administered in February and March, choosing one of 13 terms to characterize the warmest day. Terms for days above 25 °C, 30 °C, and 35 °C already exist in Japan.
After Japan experienced record-breaking heat last year, a new term for even hotter weather was created. With average national temperatures 2.36C above average, the summer of 2025 was the warmest since records started in 1898. Nine days between June and August saw temperatures of 40°C or higher, with the city of Isesaki setting a new national record of 41.8°C.
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