Japan orders evacuations and cancels 500 flights as Typhoon Dolphin nears

Japan ordered evacuations and canceled about 500 flights as Typhoon Dolphin approached, forcing authorities to move quickly against risks to families, airports and factories across southwestern Japan.

Republished reports said hundreds of thousands of people in southwestern Japan were told to evacuate as the storm neared. In Okinawa, Naha Airport closed and all domestic and international flights in and out of Naha were canceled, turning the island’s main air gateway into one of the clearest signs of how far the disruption had spread.

Japan Airlines said on its domestic flight information page that some flights to and from affected airports were being hit by Typhoon Dolphin and that the list of canceled or delayed services could expand. That warning pointed to more than stranded travelers. In a country where air routes, freight schedules and commuter connections are tightly linked, a wave of cancellations can quickly cascade into missed connections, delayed cargo and knock-on problems for businesses and emergency logistics.

The storm’s reach also extended into manufacturing. Toyota was preparing to suspend operations at nine Japanese plants because of the typhoon, adding industrial shutdowns to the transport disruption already taking shape. The combination of evacuation orders, airport closures and factory suspensions showed how severe weather in Japan is managed not only as a public safety issue but as a national disruption that can move through households, supply chains and local response systems at the same time.

Dolphin also fit a pattern Japan knows well. In September 2018, Typhoon Jebi led to evacuation advisories for more than a million people and hundreds of flight cancellations. In August 2023, Typhoon Khanun prompted evacuation advisories for thousands and disrupted flights near Okinawa. Measured against those earlier storms, the response to Dolphin showed the same basic playbook, move early, close vulnerable transport hubs, and get residents out before conditions worsen. The scale of the orders and cancellations suggested that officials were again trying to reduce harm before the strongest winds and heaviest rain arrived.