This summer's heat wave has taken its toll not just on humans, in a record number of heat stroke victims, but on Japanese plant life as well. A cosmos festival in Nagaoka, Niigata Prefecture, has had to proceed without any cosmos, and the flowering of higanbana (red spider lily) is delayed. And with higher-than-normal temperatures forecast to continue into October, the vivid colors of the fall foliage might be late as well.
Seasonal fruit has also been hit hard, especially harvests of nashi (Japanese pear) and kaki (persimmon). In one area the kaki harvest started 10 days late and yielded only 20 percent that of usual years. The nashi crop is expected to be down 30 to 40 percent.
Changing patterns have also been witnessed in fish populations this year, whether due to the heat wave or to global warming. Shirasu (whitebait), which favors warmer waters, is being pulled from the sea in abundant numbers at what is usually its northern limits, while catches of sanma (Pacific saury), which favors cooler waters, are down.