Sunlight hours among shortest on record in Japan in July

Sunlight hours were only 54 per cent of the annual average in the areas adjoining to Sea of Japan, Hokkaido and Tohoku for the July month, heading for the shortest sunlight hours since 1946.

The Sea of Japan areas of western Kinki, Chugoku and Kyushu regions were sunlit only 50 per cent of the average during the month, the agency said in a preliminary report.

The rainy season is expected to become the longest on record for the Kinki region, except in 1993 when the agency did not determine the end of the rainy season because of an exceptionally cold summer.