Japanese summers are now so sweltering that the Meteorological Agency created a word to describe a whole new category of hot.

The term “____kokushobi____” (literally, “cruel hot day”) was coined to describe the brutal heat of temperatures 40 degrees Celsius and above. In previous years, mōshobi (“fiercely hot days”) of 35 C or higher had ranked as the hottest, but by July, cities across Japan had already experienced multiple consecutive kokushobi days.

With dangerously hot summer days now a fact of life, my kitchen repertoire during August focuses on sōmen — the chilled, thread-thin wheat noodles that have refreshed heat-weary Japanese since at least the eighth century.