Written by a certified Japanese weather forecaster (気象予報士). This page combines official JMA 30-year normals with my own analysis of 75 years of JMA typhoon records (1951–2025) — the same dataset behind my Japanese-language typhoon research articles.
Quick answer
Japan’s typhoon season runs roughly from May to October, peaking in August and September. In an average year about 25 typhoons form in the northwest Pacific, 12 come within 300 km of Japan, and 3 make landfall on the main islands. September is statistically the most likely month for a landfall — and, historically, the month of Japan’s most violent typhoons.
Typhoons by month (30-year averages)
| Month | Formed (NW Pacific) |
Approached Japan |
Made landfall |
What it means for your trip |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 0.3 | — | — | No typhoon risk in practice. |
| February | 0.3 | — | — | No typhoon risk in practice. |
| March | 0.3 | — | — | No typhoon risk in practice. |
| April | 0.6 | 0.2 | — | Essentially safe; storms stay far south. |
| May | 1 | 0.7 | 0 | Okinawa occasionally brushed; main islands almost never. |
| June | 1.7 | 0.8 | 0.2 | Season opens. Risk still low; rainy-season fronts are the bigger travel issue. |
| July | 3.7 | 2.1 | 0.6 | Real season begins. Okinawa & western Japan see occasional hits. |
| August | 5.7 | 3.3 | 0.9 | Peak. Most storms form; Obon holiday crowds + typhoons = book flexible tickets. |
| September | 5 | 3.3 | 1 | Peak, and the strongest storms. Most likely month for landfall. |
| October | 3.4 | 1.7 | 0.3 | Tapering off, but Okinawa and the Pacific coast can still be hit early in the month. |
| November | 2.2 | 0.5 | — | Storms form but rarely reach Japan. |
| December | 1 | 0.1 | — | No practical risk. |
| Year | 25.1 | 11.7 | 3.0 |
“Approached” = center came within 300 km of Japan. “Landfall” = center reached the coast of Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku or Kyushu; a typhoon crossing Okinawa counts as a passage, not a landfall. Source: JMA normals 1991–2020.
This season so far (auto-updating)
How many typhoons hit your destination?
Pick a prefecture to see its 75-year typhoon record (1951–2025, compiled from JMA data):
All 47 prefectures ranked: landfalls over 75 years
The full ranking behind the tool above. Kagoshima (45 landfalls) stands alone — mainland Japan’s southern gateway, with two peninsulas jutting into the typhoon highway. Notice how the Pacific side dominates while the Sea of Japan side barely appears.
| Rank | Prefecture | Landfalls 1951–2025 |
Typhoons within 300 km (avg/year) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kagoshima | 45 | 3.9 |
| 2 | Kochi | 26 | 3.3 |
| 3 | Wakayama | 25 | 3.4 |
| 4 | Shizuoka | 22 | 3.5 |
| 5 | Nagasaki | 18 | 3.8 |
| 6 | Miyazaki | 14 | 3.9 |
| 7 | Aichi | 12 | 3.5 |
| 8 | Chiba | 9 | 3.3 |
| 9 | Kumamoto | 8 | 3.8 |
| 10 | Hokkaido | 7 | 1.9 |
| 10 | Tokushima | 7 | 3.3 |
| 12 | Kanagawa | 5 | 3.3 |
| 13 | Mie | 4 | 3.5 |
| 14 | Hiroshima | 3 | 3 |
| 14 | Ehime | 3 | 3.3 |
| 14 | Oita | 3 | 3.8 |
| 17 | Aomori | 2 | 2.7 |
| 17 | Iwate | 2 | 2.7 |
| 17 | Yamaguchi | 2 | 3.8 |
| 20 | Miyagi | 1 | 2.7 |
| 20 | Akita | 1 | 2.7 |
| 20 | Fukui | 1 | 2.8 |
| 20 | Hyogo | 1 | 3.4 |
| 20 | Fukuoka | 1 | 3.8 |
| — | No direct landfall in 75 years: Yamagata (2.7/yr), Fukushima (2.7/yr), Ibaraki (3.3/yr), Tochigi (3.3/yr), Gunma (3.3/yr), Saitama (3.3/yr), Tokyo (3.3/yr), Niigata (2.8/yr), Toyama (2.8/yr), Ishikawa (2.8/yr), Yamanashi (3.3/yr), Nagano (3.3/yr), Gifu (3.5/yr), Shiga (3.4/yr), Kyoto (3.4/yr), Osaka (3.4/yr), Nara (3.4/yr), Tottori (3/yr), Shimane (3/yr), Okayama (3/yr), Kagawa (3.3/yr), Saga (3.8/yr), Okinawa (7.7/yr) | ||
Okinawa’s zero is a quirk of definitions (“landfall” counts only the four main islands); by approaches it is Japan’s most typhoon-hit region, as shown below.
When do the strongest typhoons hit? (Almost always September)
Ranking every landfall since records began in 1951 by central pressure at landfall, the official top 10 is strikingly seasonal — every single one arrived in September or October:
| # | Typhoon | Pressure at landfall | When | Where |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nancy — the “2nd Muroto Typhoon” | 925 hPa | Sep 16, 1961 | west of Cape Muroto, Kochi |
| 2 | Vera — the Isewan Typhoon, Japan’s deadliest | 929 hPa | Sep 26, 1959 | west of Cape Shionomisaki, Wakayama |
| 3 | Yancy | 930 hPa | Sep 3, 1993 | southern Satsuma Peninsula (Ibusuki), Kagoshima |
| 4 | Ruth | 935 hPa | Oct 14, 1951 | near Kushikino, Kagoshima |
| 5 | Typhoon No.22 of 1955 | 940 hPa | Sep 29, 1955 | Satsuma Peninsula, Kagoshima |
| 5 | Typhoon No.20 of 1964 | 940 hPa | Sep 24, 1964 | Cape Sata, Kagoshima |
| 5 | Typhoon No.23 of 1965 | 940 hPa | Sep 10, 1965 | near Aki, Kochi |
| 5 | Typhoon No.23 of 1971 | 940 hPa | Aug 29, 1971 | Cape Sata (Osumi Peninsula), Kagoshima |
| 5 | Mireille — the “Apple Typhoon” | 940 hPa | Sep 27, 1991 | south of Sasebo, Nagasaki |
| 5 | Nanmadol | 940 hPa | Sep 18, 2022 | near Kagoshima City |
Late-season typhoons ride a still-warm ocean but meet faster steering winds, so they arrive strong and fast-moving. Before official statistics began, the Muroto Typhoon (1934, 911.6 hPa) and Makurazaki Typhoon (1945, 916.1 hPa) hit even harder — both, again, in September.
Capes take the direct hits
Zooming to town level, the landfall list is dominated by capes — land that sticks out into the Pacific gets hit first, which is exactly why Japan’s classic typhoon observatories were built on them:
| Town | Direct landfalls |
|---|---|
| Muroto (Cape Muroto), Kochi | 10 |
| Kushimoto (Cape Shionomisaki), Wakayama | 9 |
| Nagasaki City | 9 |
| Tanabe, Wakayama | 8 |
| Makurazaki, Kagoshima | 8 |
| Hamamatsu, Shizuoka | 6 |
| Omaezaki (Cape Omaezaki), Shizuoka | 6 |
| Ibusuki, Kagoshima | 5 |
| Aki, Kochi | 5 |
| Sasebo, Nagasaki | 5 |
Where typhoons go: a clean south-to-north gradient
75 years of approach counts for Japan’s 13 forecast regions:
| Region | Typhoons within 300 km, 1951–2025 |
|---|---|
| Okinawa | 553 (7.4/year — not one typhoon-free year in 75) |
| Izu & Ogasawara Islands (Tokyo’s islands!) | 401 |
| Amami | 300 |
| Southern Kyushu | 279 |
| Northern Kyushu | 257 |
| Tokai (Nagoya) | 248 |
| Shikoku | 244 |
| Kanto & Koshin (Tokyo) | 238 |
| Kinki (Osaka/Kyoto) | 235 |
| Chugoku | 213 |
| Tohoku | 192 |
| Hokuriku | 186 |
| Hokkaido | 119 |
Two surprises: the No.2 spot belongs to Tokyo — not the city but its far southern islands (Hachijojima, Chichijima), sitting right on the typhoon highway. And “Tokyo is safe” is only half-true: mainland Kanto still averages about 3 approaches a year.
How extreme can one season get?
Averages hide the swings. In 2004, ten typhoons made landfall — more than three times a normal season — and 19 came within 300 km (a record shared with 1960 and 1966). Okinawa alone was approached by 15 typhoons that year, roughly one every two weeks. At the other extreme, five seasons since 1951 ended with zero landfalls (most recently 2020). “Average 3 landfalls” really means “anywhere between 0 and 10.”
Practical tips for travelers
Traveling in August–September? Don’t cancel — on any given day the odds are with you. Do choose refundable or changeable tickets, avoid must-make connections (a cruise departure, an international transfer) the day after you arrive, and give island itineraries one buffer day. A typhoon typically disrupts any one place for about 12–24 hours as it passes.
Going to Okinawa in summer? Roughly one typhoon a month passes nearby in July–September — and Okinawa is also Japan’s best-prepared region (concrete buildings, routine drills). A typhoon there usually means a day indoors, not danger. A flexible flight matters more than the season itself.
Safest warm months: April, May and late October–November combine pleasant weather with low typhoon risk.
During an actual typhoon
Use our Japan Typhoon Tracker — live positions with JMA, U.S. Navy (JTWC) and ensemble model forecasts in English, plus a traveler FAQ (flights, trains, warning levels). Official warnings: JMA English site.
Sources: JMA climate normals (1991–2020) and JMA typhoon statistics 1951–2025, analyzed in my Japanese-language articles: landfalls by prefecture & town, 75 years of approach counts by region, and the 100 strongest landfalling typhoons. Figures for the current season come from this site’s own typhoon database, updated hourly from JMA feeds.