So far, I have been very fortunate in my trip to not have encountered any typhoons. In fact, it only rained on me once so far and that was when I was already on my way to my hotel room. I consider myself lucky since I am traveling through the country during its typhoon season, which runs until the end of September.
Yesterday, I spent the day with my cousin and her husband enjoying all the sights of Japan, such as the Tokyo Sky Tree, Akihabara, winning 5500 yen at Pachinko…
We were bracing ourselves for the big Typhoon that was coming in our direction. I was always pretty concerned about being caught in a Typhoon during a ride. Last year, when I traveled to Eastern Canada, I was caught in many storms due to the unreliable weather tracking network I was using, and the fact that storms move fairly quickly in general during the summer.
However, the Japanese appear to have a very solid tracking system when it comes to weather related emergencies. News of typhoon Ju-Go and its path was everywhere. You would have to try pretty hard to ignore it to find yourself in a situation where you are unprepared and caught off guard.
There are also many precautions that are taken. Shops are closed, all trains are cancelled, as are any type of festival or event (My cousin’s husband told me last year, he had tickets to an X-Japan concert, which was cancelled due to an approaching Typhoon!)
If you are traveling by personal vehicle in Tokyo, this could mean extra road congestion and foot traffic. It did not appear so bad yesterday, since the Typhoon was on track to hit Tokyo overnight on a Sunday night. However, I could imagine this causing chaos if it were to hit during a weekday given that all the trains are cancelled!
Last night, I was woken up around 2 in the morning by Typhoon Ju-Go and it was a pretty frightening sound! It sounded much more intense than even the heaviest storms I have experienced in Canada- it sounded like an angry, violent force that was battering everything in its presence. I think it was the wind that frightened me much more than the heavy rain, as I imagined all the potential damaged caused by winds of 216 km/hr! I kept thinking: My poor bike is out there enduring this typhoon, and sincerely hoping that it has not been knocked over by the wind!!
I do not expect that my travels will be impacted by Typhoon Ju-Go. It is only lightly raining in Tokyo right now (the next morning) and is expected to clear to sunny skies by this afternoon. Ju-Go appears to be on track to move east, whereas I plan to travel North today. I am glad to have experienced my first typhoon in the comfort of my hotel room, and that it has moved so quickly as to have zero impact on my plans for the week!