Japan: Four Dead as Typhoon Dujuan Lashes Tokyo and Surrounding Areas - BBC News
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Four dead after powerful Typhoon Dujuan lashes Japan
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Watch: Timelapse shows typhoon barrelling towards Japan
By Jamie Whitehead and Kurumi Mori, Tokyo correspondent
Published 21 September 2026 Updated 21 minutes ago
Four people have died in Japan after Typhoon Dujuan battered Tokyo and surrounding prefectures with torrential rains and destructive winds, local reports said.
The storm cut power for 50,000 people and caused the suspension of hundreds of flights. Most evacuation orders were lifted on Tuesday as the storm pulled away from Japan's eastern coast.
At the height of the storm on Monday, authorities warned of an "imminent threat to life" and urged 1.9 million people to move to shelters.
The fatalities were from landslides in Kanagawa and Chiba prefectures. Six others were reported missing, public broadcaster NHK reported.
Image source: EPA
Pedestrians caught in the rain at the Shibuya crossing in Tokyo
Typhoon Dujuan had sustained winds of 130km/h (80.8mph) and gusts of 194 km/h.
The typhoon is the latest in a series of storms in the Pacific, made more intense by the "super El Niño", which has warmed the ocean, fuelling the formation of storms.
Authorities had advised the public to pay attention to weather information.
Dujuan, which is Japan's 25th typhoon of the year, hit in the midst of a five-day holiday and forced the cancellation of several events.
Concerts scheduled for Monday at the Rock in Japan music festival were cancelled, while the Tokyo Game Show, a video game convention, also cancelled Monday's programme.
Japan's Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi offered her condolences to those who lost their lives in the typhoon before saying she would be continuing with her scheduled trip to the United States as planned.
"With a sense of urgency, I instructed Chief Cabinet Secretary Takehara and Minister Hosono to respond with utmost preparedness," she wrote on X, before saying she had boarded a flight to the US.
She will be speaking at the UN General Assembly in New York on Tuesday, and will meet with US President Donald Trump.
Image source: Reuters
Passengers waiting for updates at Haneda Airport
The Yokosuka City Fire Department told the BBC that a woman in Kanagawa prefecture, aged in her 60s, was believed to have been buried alive after a landslide swept the house she lived in. Following a search by rescue crews, she was found inside the home and pronounced dead, NHK reported.
Separately, Sodegaura City Fire Department in Chiba prefecture told the BBC a man in his 50s was rescued after getting trapped while working to clear debris at a landslide site. The department said the worker fell into a bamboo thicket, along with some heavy machinery. He was then taken to hospital before his death was confirmed, according to local reports. Police are investigating the details of the incident.
Image source: EPA
A woman struggles with her umbrella outside Shinjuku station
Some research suggests that Japan has become more exposed to destructive storms, but climate change is not thought to be increasing the number of these storms globally, and could even make them less common in some regions. As temperatures rise, typhoons that do form are likely to become more intense on average, however. Warmer ocean waters mean storms can pick up more energy, leading to higher wind speeds.