Typhoon Preparation at Home in Japan
Typhoon preparation in Japan is a 24-hour home checklist, not a survival expedition: forecasts give a day or more of lead, and the standard urban posture is sheltering at home with openings secured.1 Work through the rooms below the day before landfall, confirm your hazard map and evacuation center, then stay inside until the storm wind zone passes.
Procedures, fees, and requirements can change. Confirm current details at the Japan Meteorological Agency site and your municipal disaster-prevention page.
Overview
Most typhoons in major cities are weathered safely at home with shutters closed; major destructive events are rare but real, and early warnings give a 24-plus-hour preparation window.1 Preparation means securing what wind can move, backing up water and power, staging food and documents, and knowing where you would go if an evacuation advisory names your district.23
The 24-Hour Preparation Window
JMA track and intensity forecasts show landfall timing a day or more ahead, and rail operators announce planned suspensions the prior evening.14 Treat the evening before landfall as the deadline: shops empty of staples, batteries, and tape that night, and working in high wind the next morning is unsafe.
Convenience stores and supermarkets in the forecast path sell out of bread, noodles, batteries, and bottled water the evening before. Shop a day early.4
Outside and Openings
Wind turns loose objects into projectiles. Start outside, then seal the envelope of the home.
Secure the balcony and exterior
Bring bicycles, planters, drying poles, and anything wind-catchable inside, or lash down what cannot come in. Shared-building residents should clear common balconies and corridors too, since debris from one unit damages the next. Close all windows and storm shutters where fitted before the storm wind zone arrives.1
Windows, shutters, and tape
Shutters are the primary defense; close every one. Where no shutters exist and the storm is strong, municipal checklists commonly advise X-pattern packing tape on glass to reduce shard scatter if panes break.
Tape never strengthens the pane itself, so treat it as a fallback, not a fix. For very strong cases on exposed glass, cardboard or plywood boarding is the heavier fallback commonly shown in the same checklists.
If your glass faces the wind with no shutters in a very strong storm, the safe move is moving to an interior room or evacuating, not adding more tape.
Water, Power, and Food
Assume a short utility interruption and stage backups before it happens.
Fill the bathtub and store drinking water
Fill the bathtub as an emergency utility source for flushing and washing if supply is interrupted. Keep sealed drinking water separate from bathtub water, and never drink the bathtub supply. A few liters of drinking water per person per day covers the landfall window.
Charge everything and light the night
Charge phones, power banks, flashlights, and radios fully, and buy fresh batteries before landfall-day sellouts. A battery radio matters because it works when mobile networks congest. Keep one flashlight per person where hands find it in the dark.
Food that needs no cooking
Hold extra food and water for the landfall day plus one buffer day, prioritizing no-cook items: bread, onigiri supplies, canned food, snacks, and drinks. If your stove is electric, a blackout ends cooking entirely; if gas, confirm your building's earthquake shutoff behavior in advance.
Documents and Decision Inputs
Secure documents in a waterproof bag
Put the residence card, insurance cards, cash, bankbook or cards, and key documents in one waterproof bag kept grab-ready. Add phone chargers, medication, and a house key copy. One bag means one grab if an advisory turns into an order overnight.
Know your hazard map and nearest evacuation center
Municipal hazard maps show flood, landslide, and surge zones plus evacuation-center locations, and the national Kasaneru portal aggregates them address by address.3 Confirm your center and walking route before landfall, not during it.2 If your address sits in a deep inundation band, plan to leave at the advisory stage rather than sheltering through it.3
Stay Home Unless Told Otherwise
Unless a Level 3 or 4 advisory covers your district, sheltering at home with shutters closed is the standard urban posture.2 Monitor municipal alerts and the Safety Tips app through the night.5 Never go out during the storm wind zone peak to check damage, photograph the storm, or shop.1
Falling objects, toppling bicycles, and sudden gusts injure more urban residents than flooding does in a typical typhoon. Indoor rooms away from glass are the safe zone.
Good to know
Most city typhoons are weathered at home with shutters closed
The dramatic failure images come from rare direct hits and coastal surge zones. For a standard urban passage, a secured home with charged devices and a day of food is the proportionate response.1
Convenience stores empty the evening before landfall
Restocking happens after winds drop, not during. The residents who shop two days early choose freely; the ones who shop on landfall morning choose from leftovers or go without.
Tape helps with shards, not with structure
Tape on glass, cardboard in frames, and towels at sills are damage limiters. Shutters, boarding, interior rooms, and evacuation are the actual protections. Spend effort in that order.
See also
- Utility Activation: Electricity, Gas, Water
- Setting Up Water Service in Japan
- Setting Up an Emergency Fund Adapted to Japan