Lan sideswipes Tokyo as category two storm

A collapsed road in Kishiwada, Osaka, western Japan, after heavy rain brought by a powerful typhoon. Photo / AP

A rapidly weakening Typhoon Lan has made landfall in Japan, setting off landslides and flooding.

The capital, Tokyo, was left largely unscathed, although at least two people are reported to have died and train and plane services disrupted.

Lan had weakened to a category two storm when it made landfall, sideswiping Tokyo, after it had powered north for days as an intense category four storm, according to the Tropical Storm Risk monitoring site.

Lan is the Marshall islands word for "storm".

At least two people were killed, one a man in his 60s who was passing a building site when scaffolding collapsed on top of him and the other a fisherman tending to his boat, Kyodo news agency said.

Nearly 90 others suffered injuries, most of them minor, media reported.

Another man was missing after a landslide engulfed his home, NHK public television said, although his wife was dug out by rescuers.

Rivers burst their banks in several parts of Japan and fishing boats were tossed up on land.

A container ship was stranded after being swept onto a harbour wall but all 19 crew members escaped injury.

The centre of the storm was northeast of Tokyo and it was moving northeast at 65 km/h, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.

It was expected to move out into the Pacific tonight and become a tropical depression tomorrow.

Around 350 flights were cancelled and train services disrupted over a wide area, although most commuter trains were running smoothly in Tokyo.

Houses are flooded in Kinokawa, Wakayama prefecture, western Japan. Photo / AP

- Reuters, AAP