Japan gripped by heat wave, mercury tops 39 C in Hokkaido town

Unseasonably hot conditions gripped wide areas of Japan on Sunday, with the mercury topping 39 C in a town on the northern main island of Hokkaido, a national record for the month of May.The hot weather led to the deaths of a man in Hokkaido and another in the northeastern prefecture of Miyagi, and at least 575 people across the country were taken by ambulance to hospitals to be treated for heatstroke symptoms, according to official data compiled by Kyodo News.The town of Saroma marked 39.5 C, a record-high temperature for any time in Hokkaido. The previous record for May was 37.2 C, set in…READ FULL ARTICLE