Typhoon Ampil approaches Tokyo, holiday traffic snarled

Typhoon Ampil bore down on Tokyo on Thursday, prompting airlines to cancel hundreds of flights and railways to suspend part of their operations in the peak summer travel season.

The typhoon, categorised as "strong" by the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA), was about 690 kilometres off Japan's Pacific coast at 9:00 a.m. (0000 GMT on Thursday), heading towards Tokyo and surrounding regions. The agency has two higher categories - "very strong" and "violent".

Ampil was blowing winds of 125 km/h, with maximum gusts of 180 km/h, according to the JMA.

"With this typhoon approaching, we urge the public to be highly vigilant against storms, high waves and heavy rains," a JMA official told a news conference.

Japan Airlines said it planned to cancel 191 domestic and 26 international flights, many of them leaving or arriving at Tokyo's Haneda airport, on Friday.

Another major airline, ANA, announced it would cancel 280 domestic flights that were originally slated for Friday, affecting more than 60,000 passengers.

Central Japan Railway said it would cancel all the Shinkansen bullet train services between Tokyo and Japan's industrial heartland of Nagoya on Friday.