Practical guide
Typhoons and disruptions
Typhoons can stop trains and flights. Plan a spare day and check the official status pages. The rules below come from official pages that were read on 2026-10-04. Rules change, so check the page of your operator before you act.
When typhoons are likely
In our data the typhoon season runs from July to October, with the peak in August, September. This comes from the Japan Meteorological Agency.
Check before you travel
If your train stops
- smartEX (the Shinkansen reservation service of JR Central): if your reserved train is suspended and you cancel, you get a full refund with no fees.
- smartEX: if you boarded and the train was delayed by 2 hours or more, you get a refund of a set amount for each reserved section, not the full fare.
- smartEX: refunds for an IC card or a QR ticket are made automatically. For a validated paper ticket, bring it to a ticket booth or fare adjustment office at a JR Central, JR West or JR Kyushu station within one year of the date it was validated.
If your flight is affected
- ANA: you can change your flight or ask for a refund with no handling fee when your flight is expected to be delayed or cancelled because of bad weather, whatever the real flight status is. Do it on the ANA website before the departure time.
What your plan does
When your dates are in the typhoon window, your plan adds a spare day for trips of more than 7 nights, and a plan B that swaps outdoor items for indoor items. Make a plan