HIGASHIOSAKA, Japan: Feeling dizzy and unwell after cycling to work in Japan\u2019s punishing summer heat, warehouse worker Isao Tabuchi headed for his company\u2019s newest acquisition: a refrigerator for humans. The phonebooth-sized machine, where jets of chilled air ensure ice-cold comfort, only launched this year but has proved popular in a country that seems to be getting inexorably warmer.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was really able to recover thanks to that. Once you use it, it\u2019s very, very cool,\u201d Tabuchi, 51, told AFP in the western industrial city of Higashiosaka.<\/p>\n
Tokyo-based industrial equipment distributor Trusco Nakayama said it has sold more than 300 units of the \u201cDo Hiemon Box\u201d since April, priced at 1.5 million yen ($9,400). Customers include construction sites, factories and warehouses, and will expand in the future to golf courses, said company sales agent China Yamamoto. Baseball stadiums may also be interested.<\/p>\n
Some within the company had been skeptical, she added. \u201cIt\u2019s large, it\u2019s expensive, and it\u2019s not the kind of product where you can just explain it in words and have customers say, \u2018Okay, let\u2019s buy one.\u2019 So there were a lot of uncertainties,\u201d she told AFP.<\/p>\n
Scientists say human-induced climate change is increasing the frequency and intensity of extreme heat events around the world. In 2025, Japan saw its hottest summer on record. This year, the weather office began using a new word \u2014 \u201ckokushobi\u201d or \u201ccruelly hot day\u201d \u2014 when temperatures hit 40C (104F), urging the public to treat extreme heat like a natural disaster. Tokyo alone recorded almost 120 heat-related deaths in the month to mid-August, while close to 63,000 people nationwide this summer needed emergency care.<\/p>\n
Since last year, Japanese businesses have faced tougher legal requirements to help employees toiling in the heat. Building sites, for example, must provide workers with suitable clothing such as jackets with built-in fans, as well as air-conditioned break rooms and canopies to ensure shade. A new initiative introduced this year allows bureaucrats in Tokyo to come to work in shorts \u2014 a groundbreaking move in a country where formal business attire still rules.<\/p>\n
The impact of rising temperatures on businesses in the world\u2019s fourth-biggest economy is real. A survey in July by Teikoku Databank found that 50 percent of companies said intense heat had disrupted their operations. Almost 88 percent said they had upgraded efforts to help workers cope with the heat.<\/p>\n
The Do Hiemon Box can provide one line of defense. It operates from a regular power socket, can be wheeled around and doesn\u2019t use much power, according to its maker.<\/p>\n
To prevent overuse, it automatically shuts off after 20 minutes. Investing in heat-countering measures has become essential to maintain the existing workforce and attract new recruits, said Yutaka Kono from Konoe, the specialist wholesaler of screws and surveying equipment where Tabuchi works.<\/p>\n
Conventional air conditioners and spot coolers offer relief, but Kono\u2019s firm has many open areas to allow trucks and heavy equipment to operate. \u201cI was really surprised by this new concept of putting people into a kind of refrigerator, and I found it very appealing that by going inside that refrigerator, a person\u2019s body can be cooled in an instant to a safe temperature,\u201d Kono told AFP. \u201cThat made me think, \u2018We definitely want to install one of these\u2019,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Worker Taichi Konishi, 24, says he uses it about three times a day. After moving heavy boxes of metal tools and parts by hand between cargo pallets, he strolls over, steps into the box, sits down and smiles, running his fingers through his hair like in the shower.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis feels really good,\u201d he told AFP. \u201cI\u2019ve only been in for about two minutes, but even that was enough for all my sweat to dry up.\u201d \u2014 AFP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HIGASHIOSAKA, Japan: Feeling dizzy and unwell after cycling to work in Japan\u2019s punishing summer heat, warehouse worker Isao…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":80189,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[175],"tags":[217,215,51323,36306,9708,51322,214,216,7687,7686,13847],"class_list":["post-80188","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-business-of-japan","tag-chills","tag-cool-japan","tag-heat","tag-human-fridge","tag-japans-business","tag-japanese-business","tag-kuwait-news","tag-kuwait-times","tag-workers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80188","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=80188"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80188\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/80189"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=80188"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=80188"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=80188"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}