Typhoons and damages

I'm preparing to go to Japan for about 6 months or so in a homestay program, really excited even though I have a physical disability I was still accepted. But one thing that scares me deeply are typhoons, how dangerous are they and where are they the most brutal? I seriously can't run or duck due to my disability so I wanted to make sure I chose a great area where harsh weather won't be too big a factor. Is this even an option? I just want to be prepared for the worst. Thanks again

The good things about Typhoons is that you know they are coming and it's easy to prepare.

In general the further south you are the worse they are. Okinawa and Kyushu tend to have the worse Typhoons.

To be honest, you know when then they are coming so you buy food for 2 days and know they you will limit or not go outside for that time.

After living in Taiwan and Japan, I found the Typhoons in the Tokyo area child's play. I don't see it as a problem with your disability unless you decide to go outside when the typhoon is present.

Thanks that's actually really helpful and some piece of mind. I've been around hurricanes in land and know how terrifying that can be but abroad is a new ball game. Now I know :)

Hurricanes and typhoons behave differently. As the above responder suggests. Typhoons are well advertised before their arrival. News outlets and even the general public will let you know well in advance.

Just to add, Japan has a very good Typhoon warning system, and if a major typhoon threatens any city, schools, offices�c will be closed that day or you�fll be sent home early.
You buy food for 1-2 days and stay home. Houses in Japan are built to withstand typhoons and earthquakes.
Just a word of warning, it can SEEM that the house isn�ft up to the challenge because it may start to rock (slightly) or to squeak awfully, but that is actually part of the robustness of the house. It just has some build in flexibility to sway along.

Obviously you don�ft go outside during a typhoon.

A hurricane is the same thing as a typhoon. They just have different names based on where they occur. But they're the same sort of storms so if you know what to do during a hurricane you will be fine during a typhoon.

Typhoons in Japan pass by much more quickly than hurricanes in America. Most places will only see one day of intense weather and the following day is sunny.

Kirby,

Welcome to Japan. Please note that each city hall distributes leaflets telling residents what they should do in case a disaster strikes them. They are often available in various languages, and if not, you can find English information on the internet.

Anyone is free to go pick it up, and ask questions while at it. Since you're on a homestay program, I'm sure your host family would be there to assist you on the language, but at a lot of city halls you an ask questions in your own language.

You should also take a good look at the "hazard maps" of your location. The maps will tell you the spots that tend to be weak upon certain disasters.

Meanwhile, here are some websites in English you can look at for reference. Note that the top two are for the areas I live in. If you can tell us the city you're going to live in, perhaps someone can find information unique to that city.

https://bo-sai.city.yokohama.lg.jp/lang/en/eng
https://www.pref.kanagawa.jp/docs/j8g/bousai/multilingual.html
https://www.accessible-japan.com/

Don't worry. Disabled residents have been living in various parts of Japan for ages. You just have to prepare properly.

Thanks again everyone! Yeah I will look into the hazard areas, as for where, well thats being decided based on the needs that I wrote down for them so it might be in central japan, but hopefully I'll know soon.

For all my time in Japan I am yet to encounter a typhoon that was both strong enough to be actually dangerous and where I happened to be at the time. Probably because the city I used to live in regularly had winds that were typhoon strength (up to cat3 speeds)many of the storms that I have experienced here to be windy, but not excessively so.
Often the real danger is not the wind, but the associated rain/flooding and land-slides.
If you looked at past years, you would find the chances of encountering a typhoon in a particular spot in Japan in a six month period to be quite low, and even then, for such a storm to be cat4 or cat 5 at the time to be much lower again. For example, CHANTHU was a cat5 storm (dangerous) with wind speeds of 285km/h when it passed the Philippines and approached Taiwan a few days ago, but was only tropical storm strength (63-117 km/h wind speed) when it passed over Fukuoka last night and is even weaker now (downgraded to tropical depression), but there was a lot of rain.

Typhoons are known for strong winds and/or lots of rainfall. On Japan's main islands, it is usually the latter that poses the biggest danger to lives in form of flooding and landslides. Storm surges are another phenomena that can be dangerous when the typhoon and the high tide coincide. Winds can knock down poles and damage the roofs of old buildings, but are of less concern to those living in sturdy, modern buildings. Winds also make the rain fall in a horizontal rather than vertical fashion, which can make the rain reach places that it does not usually reach - and cause water damage.

A big factor in the strength of typhoons is the temperature of the sea water. In simplified terms: the warmer the water, the stronger the typhoon. The seas around Japan have become much warmer over the past decades. As a result, the possibility of really strong typhoons reaching Japan's main islands is on the increase.