Powerful typhoon moves closer to Japan mainland

A very strong typhoon that is expected to become the first tropical cyclone to make landfall in Japan in two years was moving closer toward Japan's mainland Wednesday, bringing a heavy storm to Okinawa and the southern Kyushu region.

Typhoon Melor, this season's 18th typhoon, was traveling northwards in the Pacific about 270 km south of Tanegashima Island in Kagoshima Prefecture at a speed of 35 km per hour at 9 a.m., with a maximum wind velocity of 162 kph around its center, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.

It is likely to hit somewhere between western and eastern Japan on Thursday, becoming the first typhoon since September 2007 to make landfall in Japan.

On Kagoshima's Amamioshima Island in the morning, a storm with a wind velocity of 90 kph or stronger was observed, the agency said.

The last time a typhoon made landfall in Japan was September 2007, when Typhoon Fitow hit the Kanto region. No typhoon made landfall last year for the first time in eight years.