A typhoon came through Japan on Friday. It caused mudslides in Okayama, flooding in Mie, and killed several people with its strong winds.

It was weak sauce in Kyoto. An unequivocal letdown.

The buildup was great. The news Thursday night was talking about 150 km/h winds and forecasting over 30 cm (12") of rain for the Kansai area. We were evacuated from work at 1 PM Friday, ten hours before the typhoon actually arrived, because there were fears trains would be canceled. (Which did happen eventually.) So I went to Kyoto. While I was wandering around waiting for other people to get off work, the wind did kick up a little, and killed my umbrella (no, not a 100-yen/$.85 one; this one cost me Y300...) A little rain started blowing in, which was only an issue on the very edges of the covered arcade.

I met up with the remaining Kansaites who weren't hiding from the (impending) rain. (This excluded Catherine, whose parents got a hold of her home phone and started calling her every hour to make sure she wasn't going outside, and Camille, who jankily decided not to tell us she was having dinner with her host family.) By 9 the streets were deserted, as if word got out that Godzilla was headed to downtown Kyoto. So this left the five of us guys walking around Kiyamachi... it projected the wrong image apparently. Strip club owners desperate for business came out and offered us a "typhoon discount", telling us, "Gaijin are OK too".

We were out till past midnight, and barely any rain fell. The wind was very unimpressive. Only after we got back to Tim's apartment did the typhoon arrive in force, with some stronger winds and rain. Others reported the wind waking them up; I slept through Tim snoring so I was oblivious to it. In the morning the Kamo river looked a little swelled and we saw a (single) tree branch on the ground. Not quite like a hurricane, or even a Midwest thunderstorm...