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Bloomberg
East Japan Railway Co., which operates major rail lines in the Japanese capital, planned to suspend all train services in the Tokyo area on Sunday in preparation for Typhoon Trami, which is hitting the southwest of the country.
Kansai International Airport, which serves the greater Osaka area in western Japan, closed two runways from 11 am on Sunday through 6 am on Monday to prepare for the possible impact of Trami, according to a statement on its website. Greater Tokyo is the world’s largest metropolis with a population of about 36 million people.
The typhoon may approach central Japan later Sunday night, affecting Tokyo into Monday, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency. Trami, the 24th typhoon of the season, swept the southern islands of Okinawa and Kyushu Sunday morning, with winds gusts of up to 222 kilometres per hour (138 mph), according to the JMA. The tropical cyclone is classified as a “very strong†typhoon, the second-highest on the JMA scale. More than 275,000 homes and offices had power outages as of noon on Sunday in the southern Kyushu region, according to Kyushu Electric Power Co., while about 175,000 buildings were without power in Okinawa as of 1:50 pm according to Okinawa Electric Power Co. There have been more than 1,000 flight cancellations by various airlines on Sunday, and some stoppages have also been announced for Monday, NHK reported.
Trami follows on the heels of several large typhoons to hit major Asian population centers this month, including Jebi, which forced the closure of Kansai International Airport. Some Tokyo train lines will stop running even before 8 pm today, with the central Tokyo Yamanote loop line and others halting at 8 pm.