Wildfires continuing, now in Okayama and Ehime

Recently I wrote about how I was surprised to see wildfires ravaging parts of Iwate prefecture, since I don't really associate wildfires with Japan. Other natural disasters seem more prevalent here, and fires are something I connect with my home country more than here.

It seems 2025 is the year for it, though, with wildfires also now affecting both Okayama and Ehime prefectures. I did have to check historically about whether or not these were always so prolific, and found (via Al Jazeera) that "while the number of wildfires in Japan has decreased since the 1970s, according to government data, the country still recorded about 1,300 such incidents in 2023, concentrated in the February to April period when the air dries and winds strengthen."

Screenshot via NHK

Hopefully we can get through the next month or so without any further significant fire events, but it is something to be mindful of.