While there was ample information in Japanese on Typhoon No. 10's movements and how different businesses were responding, many tourists struggled to find multilingual updates.

Sept. 5 marked one week since the storm made landfall in southern Kyushu and caused widespread damage across Japan. 

Looking back, many overseas tourists were left confused and stranded as the typhoon disrupted their travels and they did not know how to access the information they needed. 

Various services to distribute disaster-related information in a variety of languages are available, but effectively promoting their existence to visitors from different countries remains a challenge.   

As the slow-moving, but powerful storm approached, transportation and commercial facilities in many areas decided to shut down in advance.

On Aug. 30, most of the usual Japanese commuters and domestic tourists were nowhere to be seen at Hakata Station in Fukuoka and the nearby shopping areas.

Instead, foreign tourists with backpacks and bags of souvenirs were seen outside on otherwise deserted streets.

“Typhoons are rare where I come from. I don’t know what to do,” Dominik Schlager, a 43-year-old visitor from Austria, said in front of the closed gates at Hakata Station.

He said he checked the typhoon’s path on the Japan Meteorological Agency's website in English but found it difficult to understand its severity with little to compare it to. 

The previous night, Kyushu Railway Co. (JR Kyushu) announced it was suspending operation of the Kyushu Shinkansen and most of its local trains.

Schlager said he only learned of the cancellation after asking a station staffer. He had planned on heading to Beppu in Oita Prefecture. 

West Japan Railway Co. (JR West) suspended services on the Sanyo Shinkansen between Hiroshima and Hakata stations from the first train on Aug. 30.

Central Japan Railway Co. (JR Tokai) also canceled operations on the Tokaido Shinkansen between Tokyo and Shin-Osaka stations from the first train on the same day. Although some sections resumed later, full service wasn’t restored until the evening of Sept. 1.

However, this information did not seem to percolate to tourists.

On the night of Aug. 30, Patricia, 23, and Ticiana, 22, from Germany were scanning a QR code with their smartphones at the tourist information desk in JR Osaka Station to check railway service updates.

Ticiana said that her father saw the news about Japan in Germany and told her the bullet trains might be suspended.

“So, we checked the information on the app,” she said.

On the same day, Yeon So-ri, 29, from South Korea was walking through Hakata Station. 

She said she could not fully grasp the approaching typhoon's severity while watching the news at her prior accommodation the night before since it was in Japanese.

Although phone lines and apps with disaster information in Korean are available, she seemed unaware of them.

As an increasing number of tourists visit Japan, the government has been working to ensure that information on disasters is accessible.

In 2018, the Japan National Tourism Organization launched a 24-hour call center providing support in English, Chinese and Korean, specifically in the event of disasters and emergencies.

East Japan Railway Co. (JR East), JR Tokai and other rail operators also offer multilingual service updates on their websites.

Despite these efforts, the information still isn’t reaching every traveler.

An official from the Japan Tourism Agency suggests that “foreign tourists are likely visiting an array of websites on their own to gather information.” 

Hirotada Hirose, professor emeritus of disaster risk studies at Tokyo Woman’s Christian University, pointed out that even Japanese nationals, who are accustomed to typhoons, can get stuck when it comes to making decisions during a disaster.

“It’s even harder for foreign tourists to understand the incoming danger,” he said.

Hirose emphasized the need to "focus on providing auditory communication" at airports, major stations and hotels to convey the severity of the typhoon and direct people to information sources. 

(This article was written by Minori Oshita, Takuya Asakura, Tatsumi Yamamoto and Kenta Iijima.)