Articles with typhoon hagibis

STORMY SATURDAY

The massive Typhoon Hagibis is currently making its way directly for Shizuoka and is expected to make landfall in the next few hours. It seems like it’s been here for ages already, though, as the wind has been howling and it’s been tipping it down since last night.

The central supermarket had rows upon rows of empty shelves yesterday, as people stockpiling (including myself) cleaned it out of goods. I had to go to four different places before I could find any water on sale.

There are fears of power outages and cuts to the water supply, so the bath is full just in case and plenty of rice is cooked and ready to go.

Evacuation advisories have also been issued, so our bags are ready if we are ordered to move to a local school, where people assemble to wait out natural disasters. The elderly and young children have already been moved there.

Luckily for us, our area is fairly elevated and we live on the third floor, so the risk of flooding is low. However, there is a large hill relatively nearby, so landslides cannot be ruled out.

Spending the day with the heavy shutters down makes you think it’s still night and is pretty depressing. We’ve opened the windows a few times to let some air in and to get some natural light, but it’s not really enough. I can’t imagine how people living in the far north cope.

Meanwhile, the nation holds its breath as to what will happen when the typhoon actually hits. Rivers are close to bursting as it is, and homes and roads have already been flooded and roofs blown off.

It seems pointless to talk about rugby at this time, but a game will be going on in Fukuoka later on and tomorrow the group stage will come to an end.

Hopefully the damage from the typhoon won’t be too bad and Japan can quickly move forward, as it has done so many times before.

Today’s Match
Ireland vs Samoa (1945 JST) (Fukuoka Hakatanomori Stadium, Fukuoka)

Tomorrow’s Matches
Namibia vs Canada (1215 JST) (Kamaishi Memorial Recovery Stadium, Kamaishi)
USA vs Tonga (1445 JST) (Hanazono Rugby Stadium, Osaka)
Wales vs Uruguay (1715 JST) (Kumamoto Stadium, Kumamoto)
Japan vs Scotland (1945 JST) (International Stadium, Yokohama)

Expression of the day
気を付けて下さい! (ki wo tsukete kudasai)
Which means…
(Take care.)

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HAGIBIS HOVERS

Yesterday the Japanese expression of the day was that you can never tell what the future will bring and that has proved true with the imminent arrival of Typhoon Hagibis, which has thrown up a whole new set of conundrums.

The typhoon, which is expected to be the most powerful of this year’s season, is set to make landfall during the day on Saturday and will undoubtedly cause considerable damage to property, as well as massive disruption to public transport.

As a result, the New Zealand Italy match in Toyota and the England France match in Yokohama have both been cancelled. That means elimination for the Italians, a guaranteed first place for New Zealand and England and a second place finish for France. The Ireland Samoa game is being played far away in Kyushu and will remain unaffected.

There has been no announcement on the crucial Sunday encounter between Japan and Scotland as of yet, but I can assure you that the Japanese will do everything they possibly can to make sure it happens. They want to fight it out, not qualify through the back door. That is not the Japanese way.

If their efforts do prove in vain, however, and the match is cancelled, Japan would be guaranteed first place in the group due to their victory over Ireland, who would finish second with a win over Samoa. In this worst case scenario, the Scottish would be relying on the Samoans to upset the Irish to continue in the competition.

That would be a real pity, as they put in by far their most impressive performance of their World Cup so far in Shizuoka yesterday, brushing aside the Russians 61-0 with nine unanswered tries, including a George Horne hat-trick. That came after a comfortable farewell win for Argentina against the USA.

The late game very much summed up Fiji’s World Cup. There was a lot of early promise, with three early tries run in. There was also poor kicking, which meant they trailed Wales even when they were three tries to two up. Finally they ran out of steam, and Wales capitalised with a couple more tries to take an unnecessary but welcome bonus point.

For the Islanders it is very much a case of what could have been, but for the Welsh, it’s a quarter-final against France.

Please do not plan to travel anywhere in or near the area that will be affected by the typhoon on Saturday. Just stay inside. Most casualties happen when people are hit by flying debris, fall into the sea or have their vehicles overturned. Remaining indoors will allow you to avoid all such scenarios.

Typhoons are also highly unpredictable. Check the latest movements in the forecasted path here so it doesn’t take you be surprise.

Yesterday’s Matches
Argentina 47-17 USA (Kumagaya Rugby Stadium, Kumagaya)
Scotland 61-0 Russia (Shizuoka Ecopa Stadium, Shizuoka)
Wales 29-17 Fiji (Oita Stadium, Oita)

Tomorrow’s Match
Australia vs Georgia (1915 JST) (Shizuoka Ecopa Stadium, Shizuoka)

Expression of the day
家にいた方がいいでしょう (ie ni ita houga ii deshou)
Which means…
(You’d best stay at home.)

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