Autumn's the new summer as Japan's weather warms

Climate change impacting its four seasons and hurting industries like agriculture

- Walter Sim

Japan's four distinct seasons that have inspired its rich bounty of traditions, food and culture are being threatened by global warming, potentially jeopardising livelihoods in areas from tourism to agriculture and fisheries.

One expert has even warned that the nation is on track to becoming "a country of two seasons" - summer and winter with blink-andmiss-it periods for spring and autumn.

The bleak prophecy came after Japan faced a prolonged muggy summer in 2023.

In Tokyo, there were a record 143 "summer days", defined as when temperatures rise above 25 deg C, the equivalent of nearly five months. The last such day was on Nov 7, when the mercury soared to 27.5 deg C in the city in a new high for the month, with mosquitoes still uncharacteristically active.

Yet the temperature plunged dramatically in a matter of weeks, and by Nov 26, it was a wintry 5 deg C in Tokyo.

The late and abrupt change in temperatures has an indelible impact on the arrival of Japan's vivid symphony of reds and yellows.

In Sapporo, peak autumn foliage season arrived on Nov 13, more than two weeks later than usual.

In Hiroshima's Miyajima, which is now in peak maple viewing season, the local authorities have tried to manage expectations of far more resplendent views.

"While it is now the best time to view maple leaves, many trees this year have shed leaves without reaching their full colouration," they said.

Such is the case, anecdotally, in autumn foliage hot spots across the country - from Kyoto to Kanazawa to Karuizawa, and in the highlands of Tochigi and Nagano.

Mr Hiroki Ito, a weather forecaster at Japan Meteorological Corporation, which provides forecasts of autumn foliage and sakura, or cherry blossom, told The Straits Times that the peak autumn foliage has appeared later than average in 2023, given the abnormal weather patterns.