Tokyo has recorded 34 consecutive days of rain, the longest such streak in the city's records, Japan's weather agency said on Tuesday. The run began in August and surpasses the previous record of 33 days, set between June 27 and July 29, 2019. The Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) has kept records since 1886, so the new mark is the longest in about 140 years of data.

Footage from the Japanese capital shows pedestrians making their way under umbrellas through heavy downpours, with rainwater covering streets and vehicles moving slowly through the wet conditions. According to the sources, the accumulated rainfall has led to flooding in the region.

The timing is unusual. Tokyo's traditional rainy season generally falls in June, but this year the city saw torrential rain throughout the Northern Hemisphere summer and into autumn. Masayuki Kyoda, a researcher at the JMA, said autumn rain fronts are lingering longer than usual because a high-pressure system over the Pacific Ocean has also remained active for longer than normal. He attributed the shift in the past month partly to El Niño, a climate pattern that warms Pacific Ocean waters and tends to bring more precipitation.

Climate change is also a factor, the agency indicated. Emissions from the burning of fossil fuels cause more moisture to build up in the atmosphere, which in turn produces heavier rainfall. A JMA report released last year concluded that global warming is affecting Japan's climate over the long term, including through increased precipitation.

The rain streak follows a deadly storm last week. Typhoon Dujuan killed five people in Chiba, a prefecture east of Tokyo, and brought record rainfall to parts of the coast. Oshima, an island south of the capital, recorded 686 millimetres of rain in 24 hours, a record for September.

Why this matters: Japan is regularly exposed to typhoons and heavy rain, and prolonged wet spells can saturate the ground and raise the risk of flooding and landslides. The record streak, combined with the recent typhoon, illustrates how natural variability such as El Niño and long-term warming can together shape extreme weather in one of the world's most densely populated urban regions.