They called him âHagibisâ, commonly referred to as âNo.19â in Japan. As there are many typhoons every season and giving them all names and actually remembering them is kinda hard, Japanese just refer to them by their number. In my just over one month here in Japan this is my second typhoon hitting Tokyo. There was one more in this time period, however, it hit the north side of Japan and only resulted in normal rain in Tokyo itself.
No.19 was classified as a category 4 typhoon (highest category is 5) and was deemed a âsuper typhoonâ. Maybe thatâs why every Japanese supermarket and convenience store looked like the apocalypse is about to begin. You couldnât find any bread, grilled meat, bento boxes, instant noodles, potato chips, mochi and pastries. It didnât help that Iâm a stupid foreigner and never plan my life in advance. I went grocery shopping in the evening the day before the typhoon and of course there was nothing left anymore. Well, except for the stuff no one wants to have or that is way too expensive. In the end, I found some instant noodles, cookies and a pack with five bags of potato chips. Now, you might think five bags of potato chips sounds like a lot, but these where the saddest bags of potato chip I have ever seen in my life. 28 fucking grams in one of these fucking bags. You can count the number of potato chips on one hand. And they werenât even particularly good. GoddamnâŠ
Preparations
Anyway, I stocked up my food and, as per instructions of the city council, filled up my water bottles and charged my electronic devices and my power bank. Apparently power cuts during a typhoon are pretty common and sometimes even the water supply can cut, so you should prepare accordingly. Also, because itâs going to rain like crazy for a day straight, it could happen that the first and second floor of building get flooded. That normally only happens when you live near a river, like in this case all houses near the Tama river. I donât live near a river, however, I put my clothes in the upper shelf of my closet anyway. Better safe than sorry.
I was also advised to not to be near the window during the typhoon and to close the curtains. This was not to prevent stalkers from watching me, but rather keep me safe in case the wind blew something against the window and it shattered. It might sound like this is unlikely to happen, but the window of the neighbor actually shattered during the typhoon.
In case mobile internet connection for some people cuts, there is public WiFi available during natural disasters. Everyone can use it to stay updated on the situation and communicate with others. I personally didnât have to use it, but I think itâs a life saving thing to have, in case of an actual shutdown.
The Typhoon
It started raining Friday evening. Just a little rain, barely enough to make you consider using an umbrella. It stayed like this until the next morning, when the rain properly started and the wind got stronger and stronger. The rain poured stronger and weaker at times, but stayed roughly at the same level throughout the day. At its stronger moments the rain covered the small pathway next to my room with a few centimeters of water. I live on the first floor, so if anything gets flooded, itâs going to be me. Fortunately, it didnât last for longer periods of time and the water seeped through the ground fast enough. The first video shows the weather before the typhoon actually hit Tokyo. And yes, I did not give a shit about any rules and advises and just opened the window and took a quick video.
The hours went by and the eye of the typhoon got closer and closer to Tokyo. I played some card games with some of the other students here at the dorm just to kill some time. As the typhoon was raging outside, we could not go outside and everyone was at the dorm. After dinner and endless rounds of cards, I finally decided to take a look out the window and get an update on the situation outside. The wind at that point was, according to Google Weather, about 100km/h strong. The second video shows that wind, which to be fair, is far weaker in this alleyway and so low, near the ground. But still, pretty rough wind. At some point the Japanese Meteorological Agency (JMA) even declared the typhoon a level 5 emergency. Level 5 means the disaster is already happening and the residents should do everything in their power to save their lifes.
Unfortunately, thatâs it. Nothing else happened. I was really excited that shit was about to go down, but the weather just stayed like this and nothing broke, no one got blown away by the wind, no cars flying into my dorm. Nothing. It was so boring, we decided to just drink beer. What a disappointment and a waste of my precious weekend. Ahem, I mean, no one got hurt, so that is good⊠I guess.
The End
Some people werenât as lucky as I was. Anyone following the news probably saw that Tokyo got hit hard by the typhoon. A lot of places near the coastline and the Tama river had to be evacuated and a lot of people had their power cut. Also the damage done by the typhoon is pretty high, especially in the inner part of Tokyo and the evacuated districts. According to the government, more than 170 people got injured and more than 27 got killed as a result of the typhoon. Millions of people had to evacuate and on Sunday, one day after the disaster, more than 135,000 people are still in emergency shelters.
This was one of the strongest and most destructive typhoons Tokyo has seen since decades and I am truly thankful that nothing happened to me and my friends here at our dorm.