Summers are very hot and humid. Expect max temps of 36C high humidity throughout July and August, possibly the best part of September. Some trees bringing down the temperature by 2C (random figure, curious about the real one) would be nice but silver bullet.
I live in Japan too. Sure there's very few trees in cities and more would help, but at the same time it's so hot that I doubt this would make cities significantly more livable in summer. We're not talking about some moderate summer heat like 33C low humidity. It's 36C high humidity in the afternoon and getting higher with climate change. In summer, the outside during daytime is for going from some place with AC to some other place with AC. Some people have to work for long time outside and they need something significantly stronger than a few trees to protect their lives.
With that being said, I agree some more trees would be nice.
I live in Japan so I have some experience. There are almost zero trees in all of the hottest places where the majority of people dwell. There are basically three decent sized parks with trees in the entire Tokyo metro area, which is tens of millions of peoples home. Literally the only way to survive most summers is hopping from air con to air con. I couldn't really stand it so I left.
Pus, they cut down large trees (or trim them to a stump) en masse... because of an invasive beetle or fungus? No. Because the leaves are annoying to clean up in the fall. Because the branches are "unsightly." Because it's make-work. Who knows? I see more and more shade-giving trees get stumpified every year.
And Japan's history of planting trees is... mediocre at best. They planted a lot, but pure (now not only useless {no lumber value} but harmful due to pollen fever) monoculture.
or you could just dunk your elbows into some ice water
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/quick-and-cheap-cooling-solutio...
https://www.hprc-online.org/sites/default/files/2026-03/HPRC...
https://www.army.mil/article/257626/the_arm_immersion_coolin...
super high tech https://www.firstlinetech.com/core-tech/arm-immersion/
It can't be efficient to cool one person at a time
In Berlin the left party plans to establish large cooled rooms throughout the city where multiple fit
What about , planting some trees ?
Summers are very hot and humid. Expect max temps of 36C high humidity throughout July and August, possibly the best part of September. Some trees bringing down the temperature by 2C (random figure, curious about the real one) would be nice but silver bullet.
I live...in Japan and I lived, in Tokyo and there are no trees, basically only concrete, hence the inspiration for my comment.
I live in Japan too. Sure there's very few trees in cities and more would help, but at the same time it's so hot that I doubt this would make cities significantly more livable in summer. We're not talking about some moderate summer heat like 33C low humidity. It's 36C high humidity in the afternoon and getting higher with climate change. In summer, the outside during daytime is for going from some place with AC to some other place with AC. Some people have to work for long time outside and they need something significantly stronger than a few trees to protect their lives.
With that being said, I agree some more trees would be nice.
An obnoxiously ignorant suggestion for Japan, of all places.
Is that so? They have a large forested area, but inside the cities? Greener cities are cooler.
I live in Japan so I have some experience. There are almost zero trees in all of the hottest places where the majority of people dwell. There are basically three decent sized parks with trees in the entire Tokyo metro area, which is tens of millions of peoples home. Literally the only way to survive most summers is hopping from air con to air con. I couldn't really stand it so I left.
Pus, they cut down large trees (or trim them to a stump) en masse... because of an invasive beetle or fungus? No. Because the leaves are annoying to clean up in the fall. Because the branches are "unsightly." Because it's make-work. Who knows? I see more and more shade-giving trees get stumpified every year.
And Japan's history of planting trees is... mediocre at best. They planted a lot, but pure (now not only useless {no lumber value} but harmful due to pollen fever) monoculture.
Trees burn.