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Japan just invented a new word for ‘cruel heat’

By CBC | Top Stories News May 6, 2026 | 8:42 PM

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Temperatures in Japan have reached a breaking point, and the language is shifting to keep up. The Japan Meteorological Agency has introduced a new term for days exceeding 40 C: kokushobi, or “cruelly hot day.” In a culture with a deep relationship between seasons and language, CBC News’s Johanna Wagstaffe explores how the arrival of this word is a sobering signal of climate change.

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