Tokyo
A record-breaking summer in Japan has made the authorities sit up and take notice of the young. In an initiative to protect them from the ghastly heat, children living in Japanâs hottest city will be given specially designed umbrellas. Local authorities in Kumagaya in Saitama prefecture have devised an umbrella that not only protects the user from the rain, but also doubles as a parasol, The Guardian reported.
For the past two years, the city's government has been advising kids to carry umbrellas to shield themselves and avoid heatstroke. The temperature can go as high as 35 degree Celsius in Kumagaya. However, the regular umbrellas weren't cutting it, which is why new yellow fibreglass umbrellas were introduced.
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The umbrellas bear the cityâs logo and weigh just 336 grams. They will be distributed to 9,000 primary schoolchildren next week, the newspaper said. They will also be handed out to children who live in Kumagaya but attend schools outside the city.
Japan battled its worst heatwave since 1875 in late June, so the measure seems to have come a little late. However, the good thing about these umbrellas is that they force children to maintain a reasonable distance from each other, so they don't even need to wear masks. Kumagaya saw an all-time high temperature of 41.1 degree Celsius in July 2018.
(With inputs from agencies)