Typhoon off southern Japan with heavy rain forecast nationwide

Tokyo:  A slow-moving typhoon off Japan's southern coast has triggered strong winds and rain across Japan with forecast of Tokyo region getting heavy rains early next week. But, it was not expected to make landfall, officials said on Friday.

Disaster officials, however, urged residents to be on guard early.

Typhoon Chan-hom was south of Japan's Shikoku island on Friday afternoon with maximum winds of 126 kilometres (78 miles) per hour, the Meteorological Agency said.

The agency said Chan-hom blewfarther than expected from the Japanese coast and was not expected to make a landfall.

Disaster management minister Hachiro Okonogi urged residents to prepare early for high waves and possible flooding from the storm and avoid non-essential outings.

(Based on PTI feed)