Millions of people were ordered to evacuate their homes on Thursday as Typhoon Shanshan lashed southwest Japan with strong winds and torrential rain, knocking out power, snarling air traffic, and forcing major factories to close.
At least three people have been killed so far, and scores injured in what authorities have warned could be one of the strongest-ever storms to hit the region.
Toyota 7203.T suspended operations in all domestic plants due to the storm. At the same time, other automakers, Nissan 7201.T and Honda 7267.T, and semiconductor firms Renesas 6723.T, Tokyo Electron 8035.T, and Rohm 6963.T, also temporarily halted production at some factories.
Funeral parlor employee Tomoki Maeda was in a hearse when the typhoon struck Miyazaki City in southern Kyushu. The storm shattered windows and tore down some buildings' power lines and walls.
"I've never experienced such a strong wind or tornado in my 31 years," Maeda told Reuters.
According to the weather agency, the typhoon was bringing gusts of around 50 meters per second (180 km per hour/112 mph), strong enough to blow over moving trucks. At 09:00 a.m., it was near Unzen city in Nagasaki Prefecture and moving northwards.
According to Kyushu Electric Power Co., more than 200,000 households in seven prefectures were without power in the afternoon. The utility earlier said there was no impact at its Sendai Nuclear Power Plant in Satsumasendai city, where the storm made landfall earlier on Thursday.
Millions evacuated, travel disrupted
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi told a press conference that three people had died and one was missing in incidents related to the typhoon. At the same time, the disaster management agency said 45 had suffered injuries.
The weather agency said that after hovering over Kyushu for the next few days, the storm was expected to approach the central and eastern regions, including the capital, Tokyo, around the weekend.
Authorities said more than 5.2 million people have been issued evacuation notices across the country, mainly in Kyushu but also in some areas of central Japan. These areas were hit by heavy rain on Wednesday, which triggered a landslide.
Madoka Kubo, who runs a hotel in the historic riverside city of Hitoyoshi in Kumamoto prefecture, told Reuters that all her reservations had been canceled, and she was now housing older adults who had been evacuated from nearby areas.
Airlines, including ANA Holdings 9202.T and Japan Airlines 9201.T, have already announced cancellations of nearly 800 flights. Train services have been suspended in many areas of Kyushu, while hundreds of bus and ferry services have also been halted, according to the transport ministry.
Typhoon Shanshan is the latest harsh weather system to hit Japan. It follows Typhoon Ampil, which earlier this month also caused blackouts and evacuations.