The iconic huge red lantern at the Kaminarimon gate of Sensoji temple in Tokyo’s Asakusa district is folded up to avoid being damaged by Typhoon Ampil on Friday.
16:25 JST, August 16, 2024
Typhoon Ampil made its closest approach to in the Kanto region on Friday. It had already disrupted transport on the day, with services on some Shinkansen lines preemptively suspended, impacting the return journeys of those who had traveled during the Bon holidays. Shelters had been set up in various places in the region for those seeking refuge.
At JR Tokyo Station, shutters were closed at the ticket gates for the Tokaido Shinkansen. Notices had been put up to inform people that all services were canceled for the day. Many people were seen looking baffled nearby.
A 28-year-old German tourist, who had been planning to travel to Kyoto by Shinkansen, said she had been looking forward to visiting shrines in the city. She felt disappointed but understood it could not be helped because the cancellations were due to the weather. She said she now had to find a hotel for the night.
The area of JR Nagoya Station around the Shinkansen ticket gates, which is usually crowded with tourists and people on business trips, looked deserted. A 23-year-old Vietnamese company employee living in Itabashi Ward, Tokyo, had been planning to travel back from Nagoya to Tokyo by Shinkansen but hastily decided to use an expressway bus instead, managing to reserve one of the last available seats. They said they will probably be able to return to Tokyo before the end of the day.
At Tokyo’s Haneda airport, there were crowds of people who had hastily flown back to Tokyo aboard the earliest flights on Friday morning. Many later flights had been canceled. A 43-year-old company employee living in Yokohama had been on vacation for nine days in Okinawa Prefecture with his wife and two children.
“Before the trip, I never thought a typhoon would come so close to Kanto. If we weren’t able to come back [today], I would’ve had to pay extra accommodation fees, and I wouldn’t have known when we’d be able to secure a return flight,” he said.
Narita Airport was noticeably empty.
The departure lobby looks deserted at Narita Airport Terminal 3 in Narita, Chiba Prefecture, on Friday.
“There are only a few customers, almost like during the pandemic,” a sales assistant of a souvenir shop said.
Shelters opened at 10 locations on Friday morning in Tateyama, Chiba Prefecture, where Typhoon Faxai in September 2019 caused major devastation – 6,597 houses were damaged.
“The typhoon five years ago really terrified me. I came here with friends because I remembered what happened then,” an 80-year-old woman who lives in the city said as she arrived at a shelter set up inside a local junior high school.
The latest typhoon also affected popular tourist spots in the Kanto region, such as Ueno Zoological Gardens in Taito Ward, Tokyo, and Kamogawa Sea World aquarium and marine life theme park in Kamogawa, Chiba Prefecture, which were both closed Friday.
