8-Year-Old Victim Of Suspected Heatstroke Death In Hokkaido

A child died after exercises in Hokkaido, sparking a debate about school’s lack of air conditioning as global warming heats up.

By Himari Semans

Japanese netizens took to X, formerly known as Twitter, this week after heatstroke resulting from this summer’s extreme heat took the life of an eight-year-old student in the country’s northmost Hokkaido region — –a cool summer getaway spot that Japanese used to escape to in summers. This summer, not even Hokkaido could escape the heat.

Tuesday’s death turned up the heat in the conflict between citizens and public officials over concerns that Hokkaido’s schools widely lack air conditioning, making every mayor and Board of Education (BOE) sweat their pants.

The Date incident

On August 22nd in Date City (伊達市) of Japan’s northmost Hokkaido region, an eight-year-old second grader at Date Elementary School fell ill with heatstroke and lost consciousness.

“A student of ours suddenly collapsed after gym class and is unconscious,” reported a schoolteacher to the emergency operator around noon, when it was 33.5 degrees Celsius in Date City.