Tropical Storm Shanshan was moving slowly east off Wakayama Prefecture on Saturday afternoon, bringing widespread torrential rain to a broad swath of the country, including in the Kanto and Tokai regions — with the storm’s effects even felt as far away as Hokkaido.
A linear precipitation zone — or a band of cumulonimbus clouds — has developed over Mie Prefecture, prompting the weather agency to announce a Level 4 warning for heavy rainfall at around 2 p.m.
There is a possibility that a similar band may also develop above the Kanto region as well as the prefectures of Yamanashi, Nagano and Niigata from Saturday night, with residents warned to stay alert for possible landslides and flooding.