Typhoons are violent tropical storms which occur in the northwestern Pacific and often strike Japan from early summer through autumn. According to the survey from 1970 to 2000, on an average, 26.7 typhoons are born in a year. Among them, 10.8 typhoons come close to Japan and 2.6 typhoons hit Japan. ( Now one is coming.)
In Japan, we usually call typhoon with the number. But each typhoon has a name like hurricane. For example, this coming typhoon #12 is Typhoon "Talas" which means "sharpness" in Filipino. The international names for typhoon were made in 2000 by Asian countries and USA.
There are 140 different names of which each country named several. For example, Tembin and Yagi are adopted from Japanese words.
But in spite of such effort, these international names are not favored in Japan. I'm sure number is much easier to remember and pronounce than some unfamiliar foreign words.
Still, I'm interested in those names. Damrey which means elephant in Cambodia, Haikui which means sea anemone in China ......
The typhoon #12 is just around the corner, but doesn't arrived at Japan yet. The weather report says it will make its way across Kansai region where I live. Probably it will pass the region next morning.
ReplyDeleteWe have light rain at moment, but it blows rather strong. Is it what they call calm before the storm?
Since we have just recently had hurricane Irene hit the USA I understand about what damage they can cause. Is it predicted to hit anywhere near you?
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