The heatwave in Japan appears to be taking its toll on residents, with heat-related injuries and deaths mounting.

Found comatose after sunbathing

One man in Aichi prefecture recently died from the heat, after engaging in the seemingly innocuous activity of sunbathing.

On Aug. 6, 2019, the 28-year-old man's mother left the house in Yatomi, Aichi, in the afternoon, reported Sora News.

Her son remained behind, and at some point after her departure, proceeded to set up a folding chair and sunbathe in the garden.

This was apparently something he had done numerous times before.

When the lady returned after a few hours, she found her son had lapsed into a coma on the chair.

As he was rushed to the hospital, the paramedics determined that he had suffered from a cardiac arrest.

Unfortunately, the man died 40 minutes after his mother discovered him unconscious.

Doctors subsequently identified the cause of death to be heatstroke.

It is uncertain exactly how long the man was sunbathing for.

Japan is sweltering

Temperatures on that day were sweltering.

According to Sora News, the mercury in a neighbouring town of Aisai hit a high of 34.2ºC, while temperatures at 3pm on the day of the incident reached 32.7ºC.

On the same day, 68 people in Aichi prefecture were hospitalised for heatstroke.

Meanwhile, a total of 18,000 people throughout Japan required emergency medical attention for heatstroke in the single week between July 29 and Aug. 4.

Out of this number, 57 of the cases were fatal, reported The Straits Times.

The heatwave in Japan first made headlines when Hokkaido experienced a record-breaking scorching heat of 39.5ºC in May earlier this year.

In July, the heat was turned up with the highest temperatures recorded at Gifu prefecture (37.1ºC), Kyoto city (36.8ºC) and a town in Saitama prefecture (36.6ºC), leaving over 5,600 people hospitalised as of July 28.

Top photo from Selective Asia