Mawar, located some 900 kilometers (558 miles) southwest of Tokyo at 6:35 am (2135 GMT Tuesday), was slowly approaching Japan's main island of Honshu, the Japan Meteorological Agency said on Wednesday.

The typhoon was packing winds of up to 144 kilometers per hour near its center and travelling northwest at a speed of 15 kilometers per hour, it said.

The agency warned of high waves and heavy rain as the typhoon approached, forecast to hit Honshu's Pacific coast between Thursday and Friday.

The last typhoon to hit Japan was Banyan, which struck the east coast in late July, delaying flights and traffic and wrecking a sailboat, although its crew was rescued.

Last year a record 10 typhoons hit mainland Japan. The last of them, Tokage, was the deadliest typhoon in a quarter-century, killing 90 people.

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