Typhoon Dujuan Brushes Tokyo, Leaves 9 Dead and 4 Missing

Nine people are dead and four are still missing around Tokyo Bay, not in the capital's bright center but on the soaked hillsides where mud let go and came through walls in the night. The homes that failed were in Yokosuka, Miura, Sodegaura, Sanmu, Kamogawa and places like them — ordinary houses below slopes that had been drinking rain for days. By the morning of September 23, searchers were still digging, families were still waiting, and more than 24,700 households were still without power. ^{12 13}

That is the human ledger from a storm that, by the strict chart, did not even hit Tokyo. Typhoon Dujuan, Japan's Typhoon No. 25 of 2026, brushed the region on September 21, tracking near the Izu Islands and the Boso Peninsula in Chiba, then moving northeast over waters east of Choshi and out toward the Aleutians while weakening toward an extratropical cyclone. Central pressure stood near 960 hectopascals, with maximum sustained winds near 40 meters per second, or 144 kilometers per hour, and gusts to 55 meters per second, or 198 kilometers per hour. Rain had already been soaking Pacific-facing areas since about September 19, and it struck during Silver Week, when trains, airports and holiday events were full. ^{8 21}

Oshima, administratively part of Tokyo, took the worst of it. The island recorded 600 millimeters in the 24 hours ending at 2 p.m. on September 21 and 832 to 837.5 millimeters in 48 hours, more than double a typical September monthly total. On the mainland the numbers were smaller and still historic: Edogawa Ward in Tokyo recorded 282.5 millimeters in 24 hours, a local record, with about 325 millimeters in 48 hours in the Rinkai waterfront area. In Chiba, Kimitsu logged 476.5 millimeters in 48 hours, Ichihara 487 millimeters and Otaki about 488.5 millimeters. Other sites in Kanagawa and Tokyo also set 24-hour records. Forecasters had warned of up to 350 millimeters in Tokai, 300 millimeters in Kanto and the Izu Islands and 200 millimeters in Tohoku, with hourly rates over 80 millimeters possible, and warned two-day totals could exceed a September monthly amount. ^{10 25}

At peak, evacuation alerts covered 1,908,645 people across Ibaraki, Chiba, Tokyo, Kanagawa, Shizuoka and Saitama — the figure behind the 1.9 million order that led the first night's coverage. Earlier counts over one million and 1.6 to 1.67 million reflect different times and areas tallied. The alerts were largely non-mandatory prepare-to-evacuate and evacuate-now information, but the top-level warnings were real: a Level 5 landslide special warning for Oshima and for parts of Chiba including Sodegaura. In Tokyo, Meguro received targeted alerts for elderly residents and central Tokyo carried a Level 3 alert amid flood and landslide risk, with local flood messaging reaching Level 4 in places. Most orders were lifted on Tuesday as the storm pulled away. ^{1 3 10 11}

Travel broke where Tokyo is least forgiving — at Haneda and Narita, and on the rails that feed them. Japan Airlines cancelled about 120 domestic and 15 international flights and All Nippon Airways cancelled about 140 domestic flights heavily focused on Haneda, for a combined JAL-ANA total commonly reported as 275 flights affecting on the order of 40,000 to 43,000 passengers, rising toward 50,000 in some counts. Broader counts including Jetstar Japan, Peach and other carriers reached several hundred cancellations and delays, with some airport totals near 500. Peak stranding at Narita reached about 4,000 people when rail links including the Narita Line failed, with airports distributing water, snacks and sleeping bags. Hachijojima services were widely cancelled. On the ground JR East imposed partial and full-day suspensions on lines in Chiba, Ibaraki and western Tokyo, with some Tokaido Shinkansen effects. ^{4 22 40}

Most deaths were landslide-related. Two landslide deaths in Chiba and Kanagawa were confirmed first with four missing at that stage, rising to six dead by the evening of September 22 and to nine dead with four missing on September 23 — six dead in Chiba and three in Kanagawa, with two missing in each. One later confirmation was a man found in a submerged vehicle in Chiba. Injuries were reported in the low 20s in mid-event tallies. A separate landslide death was noted in Miyazaki on Kyushu from weekend rains, apart from the Kanto strike. ^{15 12 13 16}

The wider damage was the slow kind that keeps people out of their homes after the cameras leave. About 500 buildings were destroyed, half-destroyed, flooded above or below floor level or otherwise damaged across Chiba, Kanagawa and Ibaraki, with hundreds flooded in early fire-agency snapshots. Power failures peaked at 45,000 to more than 50,000 households without electricity, worst in Chiba, with tallies of 46,000 houses and more than 50,000 people without power, still leaving more than 24,700 without power in Chiba and Kanagawa early Wednesday. Additional damage included landslides into homes and roads, an oil spill at the ENEOS Yokohama refinery, cancellation of the Tokyo Game Show final day plus outdoor events and a Chiba baseball game, and deployment of Self-Defense Forces to assist search and relief in Chiba and Kanagawa. ^{12 16 22}

In the Meguro River area of Tokyo, water rose sharply on September 21 and approached or threatened flood-danger level, with fast high flow and discussion of a retaining-wall collapse in Meguro Ward. That fear drove much of the capital's anxious night, but official national casualty and housing tallies did not isolate a major Meguro River overflow disaster or deaths there. Documented inundation concentrated instead in Ichikawa and Sakura in Chiba, the Kamakura station area and other low-lying or riverine spots, while Meguro faced risk messaging and elderly evacuation alerts. The distinction matters: Tokyo was warned, Kanto was hit. ¹