Typhoon Choi-wan, building in strength and packing a maximum windspeed of 126 kilometers (78 miles) per hour, up from 90 kilometers per house late Friday, battered small sub-tropical islands including Amami-Oshima which lie between the Okinawan island chain and Kyushu, Japan's southernmost main island.

The eye of the storm was located in the northwestern Pacific at a point some 1,000 kilometers southwest of Tokyo as of 3:00 pm (0600 GMT), Japan's Meteorological Agency said.

A landslide occurred on a hillside on Amami-Oshima island with one resident evacuated to a nearby shelter, but no injuries or damage to houses were reported, local police said.

Bringing heavy rain and gusts, the typhoon was slowly moving northeast at a speed of 15 kilometers per hour and remained on course to reach Tokyo by late Sunday or early Monday, the agency said.

TERRA.WIRE