Typhoon Chaba

It's currently typhoon season in Japan (and the rest of the southwest Pacific) and typhoon 1014 "Chaba" is currently in it's way past Tokyo and back out to sea, where it'll lose it's ferocity and die at sea.

Below is a couple of screengrabs from the Japanese Meteorological Agency (www.jma.go.jp) which does a fine 'n' dandy job of charting typhoons, earthquakes and similiar forecasts.

Today it hasn't stopped raining in my part of southern Nagano and judging by the noise of the overflow river next to my house, it rained a lot last night too. Chaba is (was) rated a 4 (5 being the most violent), and managed to kill a few people down in Okinawa on it's way up the south coast of Japan. For me the good news is that the typhoon clears the skies of clouds, so tomorrow will be a lovely day!

The red X is where I live, roughly.

"Welcome to Japan" news

From NewsOnJapan.com:

6.9 magnitude earthquake shakes central and northern Japan, Aug. 9th

At 7:56pm, August 9th (JST), an earthquake measuring at a magnitude of 6.9 on the Richter scale shook central and northern Japan. The earthquake's epicenter was located south of Tokyo in the Pacific Ocean and at a depth of 211 miles, according to Japan Meteorological Agency. No reports of damage or injury have been issued yet, but bullet trains heading north from Tokyo were briefly stopped.

12 killed, 10 missing as typhoon hits Japan, Aug. 10th

A typhoon slammed into Japan's west coast on Monday, bringing heavy rain that triggered floods and landslides and left at least 12 people dead and another 10 reported missing. Typhoon Etau killed 11 people in Hyogo prefecture, around 310 miles (500 kilometers) west of Tokyo, police official Shigekazu Kamenobu said. He could not provide details but said many were caught in raging waters.

If I hadn't read this on a Japanese news site I wouldn't even have known about it. I hope all new JETs in these prefectures aren't too shaken up. Although I'm sure Nagano isn't earthquake-proof we are quite far from the sea, so will hopefully never experience the typhoon or the tsunami firsthand.