Tokyo - A typhoon packing winds of more than 160 kilometres per hour was heading toward Japan and was forecast to make landfall Thursday on its main island of Honshu.

The country's Meteorological Agency forecast Typhoon Melor would bring strong gales and heavy rainfall to an area that included Tokyo and warned it could produce flooding, storm surges and large waves.

The southern islands of Okinawa and Kyushu were being hit Wednesday with heavy rain and high waves as the storm moved in from the south-west.

Melor is the 18th typhoon of the season. The last time a typhoon made landfall in Japan was September 2007. It killed three people. (dpa)