“What’s most frightening is that what we once had no experience with is gradually becoming the daily norm,” Konishi noted.

“The government and television weather personalities are working hard to warn of the dangers of the heat, with some using language that treats it like a natural disaster. In other parts of the world, such as the Middle East, these high temperatures are a natural part of life and people are used to them.”

According to government data released Tuesday, the heat wave has killed at least 65 people in 28 prefectures and sent more than 22,000 to hospitals last week — the highest figure since comparable information became available in 2008. The Fire and Disaster Management Agency has announced that over a seven-day period to Sunday, 22,647 people were taken to hospitals due to the heat, with Tokyo — the country’s most populous prefecture — accounting for the highest number at 1,979. Aichi Prefecture ranked second at 1,954, followed by Osaka Prefecture with 1,779 and Saitama Prefecture at 1,617.

The previous weekly record for people taken to hospitals over heat stroke or heat exhaustion — 12,064 — was logged in the period from July 27 to Aug. 2, 2015.

This summer’s scorching heat appears likely to continue presenting a danger to many, with the Tokyo Fire Department reporting a preliminary figure Monday of 371 people rushed to hospitals in the metropolitan area over suspected heatstroke or heat exhaustion — the highest figure since the department began compiling statistics in 2010.

Japanese television reports Monday night and Tuesday in Saitama Prefecture and Tokyo showed reporters with thermometers at ground level, where road-surface temperatures of above 45 degrees Celsius had been recorded. “We are observing unprecedented levels of heat in some areas,” weather agency official Motoaki Takekawa said late Monday.

Past projections from the Environment Ministry, the Meteorological Agency, and the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, as well as most other Japanese and international climate experts, agree that temperatures in the country — as well as extreme weather events — are very likely to rise in the coming years.

In 2015, the Meteorological Agency predicted that the nation’s average annual temperature between 2076 and 2095 would be 2.5 to 3.5 degrees higher than that of the 1980-1999 period and that flash downpours would become more frequent. To prepare for the worst, a law was passed last month urging all local governments to draw up plans for the possibility of impacts due to climate change.

“We should see the heat wave this year as an example of (Japan’s) future climate and be ready for these extreme weather phenomena with a well-thought-out adaptation plan,” Konishi said.

“There are many things that could potentially become issues, such as money, but above everything quality is important,” said Nomura, an acclaimed kyōgen (comic theater) and noh actor who has also performed leading roles in various contemporary plays, movies and TV dramas. “We want the ceremonies to be high quality and to express the Japanese spirit.

“I want the ceremonies to be full of wit,” he added. “That’s something I feel strongly about. From tradition to the cutting edge, Japan has many methods and ideas that are full of wit. We want to make full use of those things in the ceremonies.”

Nomura will lead an experienced team and oversee production of all four ceremonies, which are expected to attract hundreds of millions of viewers worldwide.

Takashi Yamazaki, an award-winning movie director known for his use of special effects, was named executive creative director for the opening and closing ceremonies of the Olympic Games (July 24-Aug. 9, 2020).

Commercial director Hiroshi Sasaki, who produced Tokyo 2020’s flag handover segment at the closing ceremony of the 2016 Rio Olympics featuring Prime Minister Shinzo Abe dressed as video game character Mario, will serve in the top role for the Paralympics (Aug. 25-Sept. 6).

“Mr. Nomura and many other wonderful people are working on this, and we can gather the strength of all this talent,” said Yamazaki, 54, whose war drama “Eternal Zero” earned him Director of the Year and Picture of the Year awards at the 2015 Japanese Academy Awards.

“The London Olympics opening ceremony was my favorite. I think it was wonderful, and something that very much came from the city of London. It’s not about copying that but about how we can do it in our own way.”

The 68-year-old Sasaki is responsible for the popular and long-running “Otosan” commercials for mobile communications firm SoftBank, and has also produced major advertising campaigns for companies such as Toyota, Suntory and ANA.

But Sasaki’s work really captured the world’s attention two years ago when he persuaded Abe to emerge from a giant green pipe dressed as Nintendo character Mario at Rio’s Maracana Stadium, and he is aware that he will have to try to top that feat in 2020.

“When I worked on the Rio ceremony, the organizing committee asked me to create a preview for the Tokyo 2020 Games, so that was my idea with Mario,” Sasaki said. “Just simply making Mario reappear out of a pipe will not meet your expectations, so there will be something more to it.

“This time I will work on the Paralympic ceremonies, and there is something that I would like to avoid. After the Olympics, people tend to feel that things have finished. There will be a lot of media attention after the Olympics on what happened and how many medals each country won, but then we will be asking for your support in giving energy to the Paralympics. I am under pressure to give a good preview for the Paralympic Games to increase people’s expectations.”

Each ceremony will be roughly three hours long, and will be held at Tokyo’s rebuilt National Stadium. The basic plan for the ceremonies, which the organizing committee published Monday, proposes to “position the four ceremonies as a single continuum.”

“One of the themes is to connect the four ceremonies,” Nomura said. “Of course, naturally the opening and closing ceremonies are linked, but one of the themes given to us was how we could connect the four.

“Of course the ceremonies will cost money, so in that sense maybe the organizing committee will have the idea that they may be treated separately. But for us, we want to identify common parts to connect the four ceremonies.”

Sasaki joked that the style of sliding across polished wooden floors used by classical Japanese actors has made Nomura adept at copying Michael Jackson’s famed moonwalk dance. But Nomura agreed that a fusion of modern and traditional elements will form an important part of the ceremonies.

“It’s very easy to glide on a wooden floor wearing tabi (traditional Japanese socks),” Nomura said. “If I go forward it’s called suri-ashi, and if I go backward it could be called a moonwalk. These two things appear to be complete opposites but actually they are two sides of the same coin. That’s the idea.

“It should be something that is Japanese but at the same time has a worldwide message.”

With two years to go until the 2020 Games, Japan is experiencing one of its hottest summers on record. On Monday, the mercury hit 40 degrees Celsius in central Tokyo for the first time in history.

 If a similar heat wave strikes during the July 24 — Aug. 9 Olympics, the health of athletes, spectators and workers is very likely to be at risk during outdoor endurance events such as the marathon and cycling.

Accordingly, the International Olympic Committee has approved a plan to hold some events early in the morning to avoid the heat, and its inspection team has said all venues will be analyzed to determine what further measures can be taken to mitigate the impact of the high temperatures.

“We are mindful that we do need to prepare for extreme heat,” said John Coates, chair of the IOC Coordination Commission for Tokyo 2020, during a recent visit to Japan. “But this is not the first country to host games in extreme heat, and the effect of this is something I was addressing when I visited the rowing course.”

In 1964, the last time the city held the Olympics, the event took place in October. In October 2017 the average temperature in Tokyo was 16.8 C, whereas in August it was 26.4 C.

According to health ministry statistics the nation experienced a sweltering summer in 2010, when heat killed 1,731 people, and again in 2013, when 1,077 people died from heat-related complications as temperatures peaked at 41.0 C.

This year, temperatures have soared above 40 degrees for the first time since 2013.

As concern grows over health and safety aspects related to the staging of the games, organizers have responded with assurances that they will provide shade and large fans at security checkpoints as well as air-conditioned medical tents and rest areas.

Organizers have also started distributing weather information and warnings to national Olympic committees to allow them to prepare for the summer heat and humidity.

Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike said Friday that holding events in the early morning is “one option” but is still unlikely to be sufficient, adding that “everyone has to be involved” in coming up with ways to prevent heat-related illness.

Another priority is improving transport. There is little doubt that Olympic and Paralympic-driven congestion will compound the already-packed trains and roads in the capital, which is home to more than 9 million people.

Last year Koike launched the Jisa Biz program, which promotes staggered work shifts with the aim of reducing overcrowding on trains during peak hours. In 2017 a total of 320 companies participated, but this year the number of companies joining the campaign has doubled to more than 700.

“I hope people feel that Jisa Biz is easy. I want to try different things, and ensure smooth transport for the 2020 Games,” Koike said.

With congestion issues in mind, the Diet has enacted a law to temporarily move national holidays to coincide with the opening and closing ceremonies.

While difficulties remain to be solved around heat and traffic issues, organizers say construction of new venues is progressing on time. During a media tour of the new Olympic Stadium last week in Shinjuku Ward, Tokyo, they said the project was 40 percent complete and was “going smoothly.”

While Tokyo had initially touted a compact Olympics, the metropolitan government eventually decided to spread the games to existing venues across nine prefectures to reduce hosting costs.

The games will feature a record 339 events in 33 sports, including four — karate, skateboarding, sport climbing and surfing — that are on the program for the first time. Baseball and softball are returning after being excluded from the last two Summer Olympics.

The road cycling events will finish at Fuji Speedway, at the foot of the iconic Mount Fuji, while women’s soccer matches will be held in Miyagi Prefecture and Sapporo.

Fukushima Prefecture will host the first event of the games — a softball match involving the Japan women’s team — to showcase the area’s recovery from the 2011 earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster.

Fukushima suffered heavily in the March 11 disaster, which killed more than 15,800 people. The torch relay, which will last 121 days, is set to begin in the prefecture on March 26, 2020.

“The starting point of this Olympics has always been about helping the northeastern region,” said Tokyo Olympic Organizing Committee president and former prime minister Yoshiro Mori in a recent interview. “We need to keep working toward showcasing our recovery from the disaster.”

The Olympic flame is expected to be carried to all 47 prefectures before arriving at the Opening Ceremony on July 24.

“The torch relay is what sets the mood in the run-up to the games, when Japanese people will realize that the Olympics are finally starting and that they are a part of it,” Mori said.

“It will cost a fortune and it also takes many days, but I’m glad that I can take part in something that makes everybody happy. It’s the best way to set the mood for the games.”

 

However, no injuries or damage due to Jongdari were immediately reported in regions ravaged by flooding and landslides earlier this month, as local authorities had advised residents to evacuate early as a precaution.

 

The typhoon made landfall near Ise, Mie Prefecture, early Sunday morning. It brought intense rainfall across wide areas and led to temperatures rising close to 40 C in Hokuriku in a phenomenon known as a Foehn wind, or moist air that becomes warm and dry after passing over high mountains.

A Kyodo News tally showed at least 24 people were hurt over the weekend, some after being hit by falling objects, but no deaths or missing persons had been reported as of Sunday night.

Elsewhere, a worker fractured his left foot after falling from the roof of a house in Higashiosaka during renovation work early Sunday, police said. Roofs were also blown off by strong winds.

The typhoon, which was on an unusual westbound trajectory, passed right through the disaster-hit areas. The government issued a rare warning beforehand to get residents to evacuate early as a precaution.

The areas remained on high alert as the Meteorological Agency warned of further flooding and landslides, as well as high waves.

“I was afraid of getting more torrential rain, but I’m relieved that we did not have any major damage this time,” said Nobuhiro Kanetomo, 40, in Kurashiki, Okayama Prefecture, one of the hardest-hit areas in the early July rain disaster.

Jongdari slowed to 25 kph as it continued west toward Kyushu, and it was in the vicinity of Saga Prefecture as of 10 p.m. Sunday, the Meteorological Agency said.

Transportation was also affected, with Japan Airlines and All Nippon Airways canceling some flights from Tokyo to western parts of the nation.

West Japan Railway Co. (JR West) and private railways said some services were either delayed or halted.

On Saturday night, in Odawara, Kanagawa Prefecture, 15 vehicles, including an ambulance, became marooned on a flooded road next to the ocean after high waves swamped it. About 30 people were evacuated to higher ground.

The same night, five people staying at a hotel in Shizuoka Prefecture were slightly hurt by glass after a restaurant window was apparently shattered by high waves caused by the typhoon.

Rain will continue in some areas, even after the typhoon passes.

Typhoons typically approach the Japanese archipelago from the southwest, and many follow a southwest-to-northeast course due partly to the effect of the westerly jet stream and anticyclones over the Pacific.

But Jongdari’s unusual course prompted Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Friday to warn about the weekend storm, particularly for those affected by the massive flooding in western Japan that killed 224 people and destroyed tens of thousands of homes earlier this month.

Temperatures are also expected to shoot up after the typhoon moves away, bringing back the risk of heatstroke and heat exhaustion.

The country has been gripped by a heat wave that immediately followed the rain disaster and which the agency declared to be a “natural disaster.”

Extreme heat pushed the mercury to a record high 41.1 degrees in Kumagaya, Saitama Prefecture, last Mondayand the nationwide heatstroke was blamed for the deaths of dozens of lives, most of them elderly people.

In the 24-hour period through noon Monday, up to 200 mm of rain may soak some areas of western and southern Japan.