Typhoon Bavi Batters Japan, Taiwan

The story so far

As of September 21, 2026

Typhoon Dujuan has raked Japan’s east, prompting evacuation orders for about 1.9 million people in six prefectures that include Tokyo, Chiba, Kanagawa, Saitama, Ibaraki and Shizuoka. The weather agency issued its top-tier landslide alert for Izu Oshima, meaning immediate danger to life, while many other warnings have been trimmed as the core of the storm tracks north along the Pacific coast. Winds have held near 130 km/h with gusts close to 200 km/h, cutting power to more than 50,000 households and suspending rail lines as hundreds of flights were canceled by Japan Airlines and All Nippon Airways.

The center of gravity in this story is water, not wind. Dujuan is not expected to drive straight ashore, but its rain bands are drenching steep, saturated slopes around the capital and offshore islands. Forecasters flagged up to 250 millimeters of rain through Tuesday in the Tokyo region and nearby Tokai, with some locations already past 300 millimeters since the weekend. Landslides have killed at least two people in Chiba and Kanagawa, and one resident in Miura remains unaccounted for. After broader alerts eased, higher-level warnings still covered pockets such as Shinagawa Ward, Toshima Village and Niijima Village.

What explains the scale of disruption is where the storm is passing and when. Dujuan is Japan’s 25th named storm this year and arrived in the middle of a five-day holiday, piling risk onto the country’s busiest transport corridors. Bullet train operators prepared for delays even as some services initially ran, airports scrubbed more than 270 flights in a day, and events from the Tokyo Game Show to major concerts were canceled. Power cuts clustered around the capital’s fringe, where gusts and overflowing drains compound the landslide hazard.

This season’s pattern ties the facts together. Warmer seas linked to a strong El Niño have loaded storms with more moisture and energy, so even a glancing pass can bring record rain. That is why mass evacuations were triggered despite a track that skirts the coast, and why isolated islands like Izu Oshima sat under the highest danger level while many mainland alerts eased. As Dujuan lifts north, the question is less its wind field and more whether persistent rain bands stall over Kanto’s hills; if they do, the most serious damage will come after the eye has already moved on.