A powerful typhoon drenched eastern Japan with rain on Tuesday, narrowly missing Tokyo but delaying flights and traffic and causing a sea accident.
Typhoon Banyan hit Japan at Kamogawa city in Chiba prefecture, 70km south-east of Tokyo, shortly after 8pm, the meteorological agency said.
It was moving north-east at about 35kph, the agency said.
Banyan, packing winds of up to 90kph, was expected to move along the Pacific coast of eastern Japan through Wednesday.
Heavy rain fell on and off in downtown Tokyo late on Tuesday afternoon, with many businesspeople opting to go home early to escape the typhoon as several train services were called off.
At least 43 domestic flights linking Tokyo to the rest of the country were cancelled and some expressways were impassable because of the pouring rain, the Japan Broadcasting Corporation said.
A sailboat was wrecked in the Pacific east of Hachijojima island, 300km south of Tokyo, but the two crew members were rescued by an air-force helicopter, a coast-guard official said.
Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi was among those who voiced concern over the typhoon.
“We should be careful. I hear it’s going to rain even harder. It might be a good idea if all of you went home early,” Koizumi advised reporters.
Rainfall for the 24 hours to noon on Wednesday could reach 250mm in most of the mainland facing the Pacific, and 150mm to 200mm in the northern part of the mainland facing the Sea of Japan, according to the weather agency.
Banyan is the region’s seventh typhoon of the season, although none of the others has caused any major damage to Japan.
Last year, a record 10 typhoons hit mainland Japan. The last of them, Tokage, was the deadliest typhoon in a quarter-century, killing 90 people. — AFP