One dead, 52 injured in 15 prefectures after typhoon cuts across Honshu

The last major typhoon to make landfall in June in mainland was back in 2004 I do believe, there are a number of deaths and people who went missing.

Folks in mainland are not as accustomed to dealing with typhoons, and it isn't just the wind that causes havoc but the heavy rains that induce serious landslides.

Stay safe up there folks.

...must...get...to...the...roof...

If I could thumbsup that any more, kansaifun, I would.

Guchol the powerful woke me up today

just been given the day off here in Kobe! Good chance to clean out the eaves....

Can be tracked here: http://www.wunderground.com/tropical/tracking/wp201205.html

If I could thumbsup that any more, kansaifun, I would.

Me, too!

hope i get a day off out this

Looks like rain today.

This one is small and compact, apparently, without the usual wide swathe of destruction.

On TV the announcer was explaining the way this one works using two electric fans. First he made a pass over the map with a regular fan, then he picked up a small desk-top type and made the same pass. The punch is there, but it will be localized, he was saying.

It was no big deal in Okinawa. I was expecting a sleepless night from the whistling winds but they never really resumed after about 10 pm. Still getting light rain from the tail but the satellite shows it is pretty dissipated, but still might dump a lot of rain on Kansai today.

It seems Osaka's fine........ no missed work for me :(

Thomas: Osaka always 'misses out'.

Shiga always "misses out" too...but that's because it always seems to get here in the evening and keep us awake in the night. If only it could be a few hours earlier :P

The forecasters are still saying it will probably hit the greater Osaka City area.

I'm taking bets now on how many 90+ aged senior citizens will die because they felt in was necessary to climb up their roofs in the middle of the storm to "check things".

@nandakandamanda I saw that too this morning. I am always appalled by that TV program and how they are oversimplifying things to the point of misinformation. It makes me wonder about the intelligence of the people who use J-TV as their information source.

HansNFranz:

I'm taking bets now on how many 90+ aged senior citizens will die because they felt in was necessary to climb up their roofs in the middle of the storm to "check things".

What are the odds?

I live in Kyoto and it looks like there is a small possibility we might get a nice little visit. Just can't wait to see the news reports with those twits running around trying to use an umbrella in torrential rain and gale force winds.

Work at the end of a train line in kansai, Schools near the stn, about 4 or 5 from ele to uni all got out at the same time for typhoon turmeric, mine too, and it was a rush hour crowd at 1 pm on a usually unbusy stn. I got out too. Let's snooze.

What's it with all the comment¥s about elderly on the roof??

Where I live here in Kansai, the weater is awesome, the air-fresh, cool, and the wind is not that strong. I guess it'll hit us in the evenings.

What's it with all the comment¥s about elderly on the roof??

Are you new to Japan Lowly? It is famous (or infamous?!) here that whenever there is a typhoon, the following day there are a smattering of news reports about how elderly Japanese seemed to think it was a perfect time in the middle of the storm to go up and fix the roof with obvious tragic consequences.

Personally, I always picture the obaasan snug and warm in their lounges, grasping the insurance policy with both hands and eyes cast towards the ceiling, listening for the clunk!

I am assuming by the time this one hits Tokyo it wont be so bad. Hope so anyway. Cant be arsed to get all the bloody flower pots in off the balcony.

DON'T CLIMB ON YOUR ROOF TONIGHT

..must...climb..down...from...roof....and...get..more..beer...

Bit muggy. Been raining for a few hours now and the wind has suddenly dropped. Is that it, then?

As usual, a lot of hype and misplaced scaremongering. It'll be like a windy, rainy January day in the UK.

Erm, where is this Typhoon then?

@kansaifun; get on /r japan on reddit. You will be very welcome.

What's it with all the comment¥s about elderly on the roof??

Because on the evening news following a typhoon are the sad reports of elderly gents, 80, 90, who got blown off roofs trying to fix them, or fell into drainage ditches and were washed away while checking on the rice paddies. Happens every time. I suppose they all think it can't happen to them.

omg

been here near twenty year.

Not heard of this supposedly "regular" blowing-off-of-the-rooves of the elderly. The only thing I remember is in a book about an Okinawan karateka, going out and practicing on the roof in typhoons. But he was young, it was like 70 yrs ago, and just him.

I live in an old house, the gusts occasionally compress my whole house or expand it. My cats are certainly freaked out. Seems to be normally stronger-than-average typhoon.

combined with the new moon "oshio" high tide might be interesting at the beach tomorrow!

Posters in JToday certainly like to blow things out of proportion. (Pun intended)

In the spring storm a couple of months ago, there was an article featured on JToday where an elderly man fell to his death, along with the news of a couple other pointless tragedies of people dying due to walking their dog etc. Certainly these actions are pretty stupid, and it's pretty reasonable for people to be exasperated at such news. It was a storm, well covered and warned of in the media, television and radio, and even if a person were deaf to all such information, going out to the roof at that age while there it was raining with very strong winds is almost inexcusably stupid.

It's also probably true (I say probably because I have no sources, but it's almost certain that such things have happened before) that such incidents have happened before in the past, where an elderly person would do such inconceivable things in the middle of heavy storms and typhoons that led to their deaths.

But saying such happenings are "regular" and "famous" without citing sources is pretty much compounding and spreading baseless conjecture and hyperbole - something that JToday commenters are (in)famous and regularly known for doing. (See what I just did?)

For now, though things are quiet in Nishinomiya. Maybe the typhoon went eastwards, or maybe it just hasn't reached me yet. It's not raining here and there's not much wind at the moment, though. We'll just have to see later tonight, I guess.

Not heard of this supposedly "regular" blowing-off-of-the-rooves of the elderly.

Watch the evening NHK news.

But saying such happenings are "regular" and "famous" without citing sources is pretty much compounding and spreading baseless conjecture and hyperbole

Not really....one man lost already today while fishing on a breakwater, and a man hurt (? I was getting dinner, didn't hear if he was hurt or killed) fixing a roof...I don't know that NHK leaves the information from the previous year accessible, so sources may be hard to come by, but it does happen regularly.

September 2011, CNN

Four people died in Nagoya, including a 66-year-old man who fell from a roof Tuesday while trying to fix a duct, authorities said.

2007, typhoon number 4

One man was seriously hurt when he was blown off a roof while repairing a television antenna wire.

2004, typhoon 6

Among the dead were a man washed out to sea in Wakayama Prefecture, a man electrocuted while rigging an extension chord outside his house.

2004 typhoon 17

Among the dead were two elderly farmers washed away by a swollen river and a women who was blown off a roof as she tried to fix it.

2005, typhoon 11

One man died after he slipped and was swept away by fast moving water.

This is just a cursory search. You'd find more, doubtless, if you searched more.

Can anybody please tell me the situation in Kusatsu?

Thank you Himajin! Too busy (lazy?!) to respond to Vinnyfav/Lowlys posts, but you have done it for me.

If you have never heard of these things happening in 20 years of being here you must never watch the news.

Hey, if the roof is going to leak, no better time then a taifu to search for the leaking holes. I commend them.

Chandra-

Kusatsu, you mean Shiga? I can' t imagine it is too bad. In my part of central/eastern Kansai, 30 + min from Kusatsu, we have off and on heavy wind and off and on heavy rain, but nothing off the charts. Quiet right now, no wind or rain,sure it will come back tho.

Chandra, is that in Shiga? I'm not close to there but I'll post whatever I see on the news...

OMG, no problem. My husband and I always groan when we see those reports....put a pot under the leak for God's sake, don't go up on the roof!

Much ado about nothing.

Not in Tokai, it ain`t... 400 milliliters of rain until tomorrow morning, major winds, pretty tough to walk at the moment and the noise, wow.

Take care, it is absolutely not a joke and it is crazy at the moment in my area. More to come apparently.

Wow I just noticed my 2:33 pm comment above got 5 thumbs down. Because of the crowded trains?? Or ignorance of the rooving?

Looking at the list above, Yeah, I know someone always gets washed out to sea, or washed away in a rice-field aquifier occasionally. It seemed that everyone kept saying roof, roof, and that struck me as strange.

It seemed that everyone kept saying roof, roof, and that struck me as strange.

Not that strange to the 32 people who have thumbed up kansaifun so far

It will be my first Typhoon, yay!

Now, I am not sure what to expect. But I reckon, just like bilderberg-2015 said, it won't live up to the hype. If I just extrapolate from the absolute terrified way Japanese people react to a light, short drizzle, i.e. running for cover struggling to get their umbrellas up while sternly staring down any Gaijin who's rebellious enough to walk without one, and the next morning's TV full of news reports with reporters screaming, running around, pointing at buildings which had gotten a bit wet, I'm not holding my breath.

HansNFranz,

Now you've gone and done it. You are going to get shouted down and bombarded with thumbs down. But must admit here in Nagoya its been fairly tame, lots of rain and some wind but not to bad at all.

@Cletus In Tokyo Chuo-ku, it's a rainy, windy evening. I'd happily go up on the roof to check things but it's a mansion so I have no keys.

Rattling my windows here in Chiba. Bloody sky tv gone on the blink.

Looks like it may hit Fukushima tomorrow. Wonder if the no.4 nuclear reactor building would be OK with a direct hit.

"Personally, I always picture the obaasan snug and warm in their lounges, grasping the insurance policy with both hands and eyes cast towards the ceiling, listening for the clunk!"

OMGhontoni, very clever. You have just solved the mystery. These old guys obviously get sent up there by their wives!! :) And yes, newbies, people getting up on roofs in all kind of weather happens a lot here.

Yes I mean Kusatsu in Shiga.Thank you so much for the information and please let me know what is happening there.

In fact, whereas in other countries people are content with facts and figures, Japanese like to prove the strength of typhoons by falling off roofs and showing people's umbrellas collapsing behind weather reporters getting drenched and knocked over.

One day well probably see the news announcer ask the intrepid reporter how strong the wind is, and see her get knocked over by a an old man whose been blown off a roof live on TV.

@billyshears You are definitely on to something there. We should probably eat some iodine tablets tonight, seal off all windows and doors, and pray that there won't be a "direct hit".

It was a LOT tamer than I thought in Osaka. Got pretty windy for an hour or so, but that was all, and not that bad. Oh, and it rained some in the afternoon as well. We'll see what number 5 holds, if it continues on its current path.

Here in Tokyo it's pouring rain and gusty wind. It's warm, though, so getting soaked coming back home on the bike wasn't actually unpleasant. Looks like everyone is buckled down and sitting out the evening watching TV and how everyone is doing.

JimizoJun. 19, 2012 - 08:14PM JST

Rattling my windows here in Chiba. Bloody sky tv gone on the blink.

Same here and Dexter's on TV tonight.

I just watched an ANN report and the female reporter is out there, getting battered by the wind and rain wearing her helmet.

Hi can someone please tell me any news about the Shinkansen ??? I have been stuck on the Shinkansen geading to osaka for the last 45 min.... With limited understanding of Japanese n limited bat life :(

Maybe the old guy was a football fan. I'll be up there myself if I can't watch Ukraine v England.

No sleep tonight i guess

Yep, seems that way. So noisy here in Yokohama, the winds are crazy!

Getting some real strong winds here in Tokyo. I don't remember winds this strong in a decade. 

Just finished clearing all my exposed pot plants off the verandah, and hoping all my tomato plants and lettuces in my community garden plot are still in the ground!

I'm more afraid of the typhoon and the earthquake..

Nice one! http://dailynews.yahoo.co.jp/photograph/pickup/?1340114584

no dought the sale of 100 yen umberellas will go up..... what is the life span of them....point 5 of a second i trust Toyota mitsubishi cars are built better!!

So do kids in Japan wait and wait for a "typhoon day" for school to be closed the way kids in the north of America wait and wait for snow?

I am sure the kids were gleaming at the prospect of a possible holiday away from school in the Tokyo/Yokohama area, but it poured and the winds blew through rather quickly leaving sunny skies this morning and those same, hopeful kids trudging off to school. Really blew hard here, but this one I was able to sleep through nicely!

IOWan

Yes. Everyone was psyched yesterday.

Yasukuni-

I think the idea is more than ppl behind the reporter, the reporter herself, who is always young, and always pretty, gets drenched or loses the umbrella. This is to a. increase empathy in the viewer who wants to protect the daughter figure, b. for sado -kicks, "see what we get to see a girl go thru", take yr pick.

Trivia Typhoon Prediction Fact I learned yesterday at the sento (public bath): If the typhoon passed by East of Kansai, it is never any big deal, If it passes by West of kansai, or thru Western kansai it is big and huge and destructive. (With relation to the ppl in E Kansai, not Okinawa or Tokyo or anything.) (Yesterday's Guchol was really no big deal around here, medium rain, mildly strongish winds, and it did go by East of us). Just keep that one under yr hat fr the next Typhoon.

So do kids in Japan wait and wait for a "typhoon day" for school to be closed the way kids in the north of America wait and wait for snow?

Schools will be closed or kids sent home early depending on when it is due to hit. because it came to Tokyo overnight, we got a letter yesterday saying that if the wind and/or rain is strong this morning, not to risk coming in on time and the school will be expecting people to be late so come in whenever it is safe to do so. Very reasonable of them I thought!

This one took me by surprise actually. After the direct hit on Tokyo last year (or was it earlier this year? Cant remember) I wasnt expecting this one to be quite so bad, especially given its predicted path, but we were up at 3.30 this morning, grabbing the remaining plants and the poor bewildered bunny off the balcony. Did occur to me after yesterdays discussion above that we could end up being the very statistics we were joking about ! But other than catching my finger on a piece of wood, we will live to see another storm.

Heavy constant rain in the Aomori Prefecture on Wednesday morning but the winds are not that bad. Keep safe everyone!

When are they going to figure out how to stop typhoons?

while sternly staring down any Gaijin who's rebellious enough to walk without one

Why don't gaijin use umbrellas? I went back to the old home town and went out with my sister..pouring rain, no umbrellas. You end up getting soaked, any bag you're carrying too.

Since the cheapest umbrella is 500 yen, it just seems strange to most Japanese not to use one. I doubt if they're staring you down so much as thinking you're a nut ;-P

Lunchbox, great find! That's one way of dealing with it.

no dought the sale of 100 yen umberellas will go up..... what is the life span of them....point 5 of a second i trust Toyota mitsubishi cars are built better!!

Judging by the time of your post you are probably not in Japan and maybe have never been here. It has been many many years since an umbrella cost 100 Yen and yes, they don't last long in a typhoon. That is because they are cheap and made in China unlike Toyota and "mitsubishi" cars built in Japan.

As most observers will have seen, the Japanese like to put up their umbrellas long before it starts raining and take them down long after it has stopped. Umbrellas are only of much use when the rain is coming straight down but people seem to think that a 300 yen umbrella will keep them dry in a typhoon when the rain is coming at you from the side! Given that typhoons are known about for days in advance I am always amazed by the number of people on the streets in totally inappropriate clothing e.g. girls in high heels and short skirts in typhoon rain and wind. Same with people stuck with no flight or train; OK, some people have no choice but to travel at that time but many, I am sure given they had 3 or 4 days warning, could have made other arrangements.

**This morning, it is a fine day after the typhoon, and is shining verdure. And I really like this moment.

HansNFranz:

I'm taking bets now on how many 90+ aged senior citizens will die because they felt in was necessary to climb up their roofs in the middle of the storm to "check things".

Clemens Simon:

What are the odds?

You lose! What did I win?

What a mess!! So many leaves to rake after these pesky typhoons!!

kansaifun, I think that may be a record for thumbs-ups!

si8nce guchol is turmeric whats talim? why leave that one out?

ReformedBasher. Nice illustration of what on earth would drive an elderly person to risk life and limb and climb onto his/her roof in adverse weather. Neighbo(u)rs! I can see it now. Thanks.

@nandakandamanda

When neighbours are threatening legal action etc and there's real risk of damage to other houses (like Farmboys says above), well, yes, people do go up on the roof.

Though I should mention, the storm was still on it's way. My stepfather slipped but I think the rising wind played a part in that.

Anyway, I don't think people getting killed or injured in a storm for whatever reason is hardly unique to Japan and certainly nothing to joke about.

tensai-

Our next typhoon name, Talim, means sharp edge or cutting edge, apparently. From a Phillipine language, don't know which one.

Here is a list, we are in column "v" way down after Guchol.

http://www.weather.gov.hk/informtc/sound/tcname2000e.htm

ReformedBasher

Laughing at other people getting injured is what the internet is all about!

But yeah, you're right, it's not unique to Japan. Still funny though!

I fell over and injured myself yesterday. Was a bit wet and windy, but still thought that I could walk home after a bottle of shochu without harm coming to me. i do it all the time. So now a bit more sympathertic to the roof fallers.

What? No comments bemoaning how the guy was stupid for being inside a shed that collapsed and killed him? Ironically, if he had been on the roof of the shed he likely would have survived.

@Himajin "Why not use an umbrella?" I don't use umbrellas to the extent the average Japanese person does for many reasons:

Very often, when it's rainy weather in Tokyo, there's also a lot of wind. Struggling with an umbrella which is being battered by wind is extremely stupid in my opinion. I really do not understand why so many people here do it - maybe you can explain this? When there's only a few drops coming down from a largely clear sky with a few clouds, I don't use one. The Japanese seem to fear even getting hit by one single drop of rain, and all use their umbrellas. When there's real rain, I sometimes don't use an umbrella when I just have to go from the mansion to the convenience store next door. Walking 20m in rain doesn't get me all that wet. The Japanese use their umbrella even for just walking 1-2m. In Japan, the rain often comes sideways, getting you wet even with an umbrella. In that case, I think a rain jacket or coat (there even exist fashionable ones) looks like a much better option. When the rain has stopped, and I am carrying an umbrella, I close it immediately. The Japanese like to be on the safe side and often keep their umbrellas up for a good 30 min to 1h after the rain has completely stopped. When it just looks like it might rain, but really doesn't yet, I don't see a need to put up my umbrella. The Japanese on the other hand, do. Most of the time I am carrying a briefcase around, and sometime during the day I will also shop for groceries, so I'll have both hands occupied. No hand free for the umbrella. I don't have time to first go home, get rid of the briefcase, put on my Micky Mouse T-Shirt (hint hint) and go shopping.