Attack of the Giant Lizard

-#include virtual="/time/asia/2004/includes/thisweek.txt"-->Japan is suffering from storm fatigue. Just days after drying out from Typhoon Ma-on, a storm billed as the east coast's worst in a decade, the country was slammed again by an even bigger beast last week—a 1,600-km-wide "megatyphoon" called Tokage (which means lizard in Japanese). Also known by its far less evocative moniker Typhoon No. 23, the killer storm cut an unprecedented path of destruction across three of the country's four major islands, registering record wind-speeds and rainfall, as well as storm damage and deaths not experienced in 25 years. By Friday evening, Tokage left at least 69 people dead, 15 missing and 363 injured, according to Japan's Fire and Disaster Management Agency.

While flights were canceled, factories shuttered and millions of people were left without power throughout the archipelago on Wednesday, Japanese television stations aired nonstop storm coverage, including riveting shots of gushing waters and daring rescues. In the western port city of Maizuru, 36 elderly tourists and their driver were stranded on the roof of their bus overnight as the overflowing Yura River swirled around them. The passengers later told Japan's Kyodo News service that they broke the windows of the bus with a hammer and then sang the 1961 hit Ue o Muite Arukou (known abroad as the Sukiyaki song) to muster courage. At one point, the water rose to stomach level. (All were safely rescued by helicopter and boat on Thursday morning.) Also stranded were 167 people aboard the Kaiwo Maru, a sail-powered merchant-marine training ship that ran aground in the waters off Toyama, 255 km northwest of Tokyo. Awaiting rescue, some of the midshipmen dangled dramatically from the masts of the vessel.

Ten storms have made landfall so far this year, far surpassing the annual average of 2.6 and the postwar record of six storms in both 1990 and 1993. The first nine killed 102 people and caused $6.7 billion worth of damage, according to Finance Minister Sadakazu Tanigaki. Some meteorologists say the phenomenon is an inevitable by-product of global warming; others assert that the 10 storms were mere coincidence. Whatever the reason, Japan's season of the typhoon may not be over. Typhoon No. 24, known as Nock-ten, was gathering strength in the South Pacific late last week—and heading North.