Japan: Millions told to turn off lights to avoid power outages during Tokyo heatwave

Japan has urged millions of people living in Tokyo to save energy to prevent power outages amid a heatwave.

Authorities warned of higher than expected demand after the rainy season ended in the capital, Tokyo, at its earliest since record-keeping began.

They urged residents to conserve power in the afternoons by turning off lights not in use, among other things.

“We encourage people to cut back on energy use to a reasonable degree, such as by turning off lights that aren’t being used, while also using air conditioners during particularly hot hours and exercising caution so as not to get heat stroke,” deputy chief cabinet secretary Yoshihiko Isozaki told a news conference on Monday.

“Electricity demand has been staying above yesterday’s forecast since this morning, amid unseasonably intense heat,” an official of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry added, saying that demand had outstripped predictions.

At 4pm local time, the temperature in downtown Tokyo was around 35 degrees celsius.

Ministry officials have warned that reserve generating capacity could drop as low as 3.7% in Tokyo and its surrounding prefectures. Below 3% risks power shortages and blackouts.

Tokyo residents said they were doing their best to comply, but some queried the requests.

“It’s not that I don’t get what the government’s saying, but they want us to save electricity and still use air conditioning - which seems contradictory," Kenichi Nagasaka, 61, told the Reuters news agency.

Weather officials said the end of the annual rainy season across much of Japan, including the Tokyo metropolitan area, had come at its earliest since data began in 1951.

The end of the rainy season sees an increase in temperatures.

In 2018, the end of the season on June 29  brought an extremely hot summer with several heat waves that put thousands in hospital.

The heat is also suspected to have caused two deaths at the weekend, one of a man in his 40s who collapsed outdoors, according to local media reports.