Fierce winter cold and snow used to be the primary weather risks facing the 5.7 million residents of Hokkaido in northern Japan. That changed last year. The snow that arrived in December, some Sapporo citizens said, was different - the falls were lighter and sporadic, and interrupted by occasional showers.
A few months ago, Hokkaido recorded its hottest summer in 80 years, with temperatures hitting 35 degrees Celsius in some places. The heatwave reportedly killed some elderly people and prompted an increasing number of people to install air conditioners in their homes, a rare move for Hokkaido citizens in the past. Some now predict air conditioning might become more popular in people's homes than renewable energy devices.
Just weeks after Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda visited China and agreed to help the mainland with climate change technology, it seems Tokyo is battling on the home front with the environmental and social effects of climate change.
Experts now say the warmer climate is shifting the energy usage pattern of Hokkaido residents, whose greenhouse gas emission per capita is already 1.4 times the national average.
Hokkaido officials admit that rather than being on track to meet the target of a 9.2 per cent reduction in emissions from 1990 to 2010, the island's emission levels rose by 14.2 per cent in 2006.
The chance of complying with the 2010 target now looks remote, unless the public and businesses - primarily the tourism and food sector - are better mobilised to change the way they use and conserve energy.
At a national level, Japan, which accounts for 5 per cent of the world's emissions, has also reported missing the Kyoto Protocol 6 per cent reduction target, by over-emitting close to 7 per cent above the 1990 level.