{"id":4934,"date":"2026-03-05T22:00:26","date_gmt":"2026-03-06T05:00:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/?p=4934"},"modified":"2026-03-05T22:00:26","modified_gmt":"2026-03-06T05:00:26","slug":"japan-asked-to-vote-on-what-to-officially-call-insanely-hot-days","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/?p=4934","title":{"rendered":"Japan asked to vote on what to officially call insanely hot days"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

Good idea to hold the election before it\u2019s too hot to think<\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

The days are starting to warm up here in Japan, and while that used to be a nice thing, I can\u2019t help but be filled with a sense of dread at what\u2019s to come<\/a>. I think I\u2019m at the bargaining stage of grief, where I\u2019m praying for even a few weeks of bone-chilling weather just so we can make winter last a little bit longer.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s pretty much a given that this will be the hottest year on record, because every year has been the hottest year on record<\/a> for quite a while now. To make matters worse, Japan has this really special blend of heat and humidity you don\u2019t find in many other places, the kind where your sweat constantly clings to you and also starts to heat up, making everything feel twice as hot as it normally would.<\/p>\n

\u25bc It\u2019s really the kind of heat that makes you consider switching to 19th-century fashions<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

It\u2019s truly a horrible time of year to look forward to, but the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) has decided to try an have a little fun by holding a naming contest for the lethal heat to come<\/strong>. It\u2019s like the ending of Ghostbusters<\/em>, where we get to choose the name of the thing that kills us all.<\/p>\n

Currently, the JMA calls days over 25 degrees Celsius (77 Fahrenheit) natsubi<\/em>, meaning \u201csummer days,\u201d and when the temperature rises over 30 degrees (86 Fahrenheit), it becomes a manatsubi<\/em>\/\u201cmidsummer day.\u201d Once we surpass 35 degrees (95 Fahrenheit), we get into moshobi\/<\/em>\u201cextremely hot day\u201d territory.<\/p>\n

Now, the question is what to call the growing number of days where the thermometer cracks the 40-degree (104 Fahrenheit) line<\/strong>. The JMA currently has an online form for anyone to choose their favorite name from a field of 13 nominees<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Here is the full list of candidates. Bear in mind that these use kanji characters that can sometimes be open to interpretation and don\u2019t necessarily have a universally correct English translation, but I\u2019ll do my best to approximate them.<\/p>\n

1.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>enshobi<\/em> (blazing hot day)
\n2. gekishobi<\/em> (dramatically hot day)
\n3. gekishobi<\/em> (intensely hot day) *different kanji than the one above
\n4. genshobi<\/em> (severely hot day)
\n5. kokushobi<\/em> (cruelly hot day)
\n6. gokushobi<\/em> (drastically hot day)
\n7.\u00a0 jinshobi<\/em> (immensely hot day)
\n8. seishobi<\/em> (fully hot day)
\n9. taishobi<\/em> (big hot day)
\n10. nesshobi<\/em> (extra hot day)
\n11. hanshobi<\/em> (overly hot day)
\n12. resshobi<\/em> (fiercely hot day)
\n13. chomoshobi<\/em> (super extremely hot day)<\/p>\n

In addition to these candidates, write-in votes are also possible. Readers of the news online have been full of ideas.<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cI want \u2018<\/em>bonjobi\u2018 <\/em>[\u201cannoyingly hot day\u201d and an obvious reference to Bon Jovi].\u201d<\/em>
\n\u201cLet\u2019s go with \u2018super extremely hot day\u2019 and when it gets over 45 degrees, we can call it \u2018super extremely hot day 2.\u2019\u201d<\/em>
\n\u201cI was going to say \u2018extremely hot day,\u2019 but was shocked to learn that\u2019s already an official designation.\u201d<\/em>
\n\u201cHow about just \u2018hell day?\u2019\u201d<\/em>
\n\u201cI think \u2018don\u2019t go out day\u2019 is most effective.\u201d<\/em>
\n\u201cI voted honestly, but I really wanted to write in \u2018death day.\u201d\u2019<\/em>
\n\u201c\u2018Super\u2019 sounds cool, so I vote for \u2018super extremely hot day.\u2019\u201d<\/em>
\n\u201cIt\u2019s intensely gross, so I like \u2018intensely hot day.\u2019\u201d<\/em>
\n\u201cSince we can write in votes, can we agree on \u2018super-hot-hot death day?\u2019\u201d<\/em>
\n\u201c\u2018Super extremely hot day\u2019 has a real 90s vibe to it.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Source: JMA<\/a>, Hachima Kiko<\/a><\/em>
\nPhotos \u00a9SoraNews24<\/em>
\n\u25cf Want to hear about SoraNews24\u2019s latest articles as soon as they\u2019re published? Follow us on Facebook<\/a> and Twitter<\/a>!<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Good idea to hold the election before it\u2019s too hot to think. The days are starting to warm up here in Japan, and while that used to be a nice…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4934","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-rss"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4934","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4934"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4934\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4934"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4934"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4934"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}

Personally, I feel this really should go to \u201cbonjobi<\/em>\u201d if there\u2019s any justice in the world. It\u2019s certainly a time that we\u2019re all slippery when wet<\/a>. But judging by the comments, \u201cchomoshobi\u201d<\/em> is looking like an odds-on favorite in this contest. Whichever term does end up winning, it\u2019s important to remember that we\u2019re all huge losers when next summer rolls around.<\/p>\n