Officials have been placed on high alert as schools and some travel corridors are expected to be closed on Monday as the dangerous Category 4 storm is expected to bring heavy rains, wind-related damage and a destructive tidal surge to the region.
Currently some 300 miles east of Japan, super-typhoon Lan forecasts warn of landslides and flash flooding inland around the Tokyo metropolitan area, home to some 38 million people, or about 30 percent of the nation‘s population.
Local elections in Japan's southern island region of Okinawa were moved up in expectation of the storm's effect on travel and infrastructure, cited by Quartz.
Due to the size of the storm and its projected position, insurance damage estimates are expected to top $25 billion, a figure much lower than those following similar hurricane strikes on the US mainland.
The lower insurance projections are noted to be a result of superior disaster preparedness on the part of the island nation, according to Bloomberg.
