The cost of gathering the necessary amount of snow for the Sapporo Snow Festival will roughly double to about 100 million yen if measures are not sufficiently taken, according to a report compiled by the Environment Ministry and other ministries predicting global warming's impact on Japan at the end of this century.
The report analyzes aspects that are likely to be badly affected by climate change, taking up themes gathered from prefectural and major city governments across Japan. It also notes the impact on various sectors, such as tourism, agriculture and fisheries industries.
Around Sapporo, there will be fewer areas that will get more than 30 centimeters of snowfall in January, so the cost of transporting snow from 100 kilometers away would start to add up.
In Saitama City, a person will be 2.5 times more likely to suffer from heatstroke.
In the Seto Inland Sea, the number of mottled spinefoot and other fish that eat cultured seaweed -- wakame and nori -- will increase as the water temperature rises. Damage to aquaculture fisheries currently happens at a 0% to 10% chance between March and May, but will be almost certain to happen in the future.
Miyazaki Prefecture, which accounts for 50% of the sweet pea production in the country, will see a 3% to 12% increase in flowers wilting before fully blooming because of a decrease in solar radiation resulting from climate change.
The report was compiled by the Environment Ministry in cooperation with the Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry and the Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Ministry.
"We would like local governments to refer to [this report] when drawing up measures to combat climate change," the climate change adaptation office of the Environment Ministry said.
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