Photo/Illutration A woman drinks cold tea and talks with the pharmacy manager, right, at a cooling shelter inside a pharmacy in Tokyo’s Sumida Ward on July 12. (Takeshi Iwashita)

With Japan gripped by a heat wave, an increasing number of local governments are setting up air-conditioned havens for exhausted residents.

The facilities use a mix of public and private premises. In some cases, the cooling shelters comprise just a set of chairs inside a shop.

But as Japan broils under the summer sun, officials believe the centers are needed.

"It means a lot to make residents learn the importance of heatstroke prevention by setting up (cooling shelters)," said a Tottori city official.

From next summer, the central government will upgrade its alerts for heatstroke. When the mercury soars, residents who need to cool down will be urged to visit a cooling shelter.

COOL HAVEN IN HOT TOKYO

One such facility is located at the Tachibana outlet of the Ringo Yakkyoku pharmacy chain in Sumida Ward, Tokyo.

On the afternoon of July 12, Michiko Baba, 74, dropped in for about five minutes to cool off.

Carrying a shopping bag, she went straight to the waiting room equipped with chairs for about seven people, where she drank barley tea from a paper cup.

"I really appreciate it because there are few cafes nearby where I can take a break," she said, then departed with a smile.

The drugstore is one of 31 pharmacies in the ward that were designated as cooling shelters after the ward office signed up a local pharmacists’ association in June.

Visitors can drop by and rest and are under no obligation to shop. They can drink barley tea or oral rehydration solution, have salt candies and use heatstroke prevention items such as cooling towels.

"They can also rest assured because there are pharmacists on site from whom they can ask for medical advice when they don't feel well," a ward official said.

The official added, residents should feel under no pressure when using the facilities. It is hoped they will use them “in a casual manner.”

NATIONAL ALERTS ON THE HORIZON

From next summer, high temperature forecasts will be accompanied by special alerts from the central government. When an alert is issued, local governments will open their designated cooling shelters.

A range of public facilities are already earmarked for this. Take the city of Gamagori in Aichi Prefecture, where at least 21 people from the population of 78,000 have been carried to hospitals with heatstroke since May.

Earlier this year the city government designated 25 cooling shelters. They include the city hall, children's centers, libraries and museums.

City officials have been encouraging people to use the shelters. Their publicity efforts include the use of signs and the Line messaging app.

On July 12 one resident took refuge on a bench inside Gamagori’s city hall.

"The temperature is appropriately cool. It's better to be here than at home alone," said Akemi Ota, 86.

The number of people seeking treatment for heatstroke has been rising. In fiscal 2018, 7,138 people in Osaka Prefecture were carried to hospitals with apparent heat stroke, nearly double the figure from a year earlier.

The Osaka prefectural government inaugurated cooling shelters in fiscal 2020. This fiscal year about 360 places are available in pharmacies, mobile phone shops and other locations.

Prefectural officials are urging other operators to join the project, which runs until September.

While momentum has been building nationwide, COVID-19 tripped up some operators. The Tottori city government suspended its cooling centers due to the pandemic. It reopened them this summer.

(This story was written by Ryuichiro Fukuoka, Noboru Tomura and Akihiro Tanaka.)

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