The center of Man-Yi, the fourth named storm of this year's western Pacific cyclone season, was 282 miles south of Naha, on the island of Okinawa, at 3 p.m. Japan time today, according to the latest advisory on the U.S. Navy Joint Typhoon Warning Center's Web site.

Japan is regularly buffeted by tropical cyclones during the northern hemisphere's summer, and nine people died when Kyushu island was hit in September last year by Typhoon Shanshan with winds of 90 mph. A record 10 tropical storms and typhoons hit the country in 2004, killing more than 60 people and causing billions of dollars of damage.

The Japan Meteorological Agency issued warnings of high waves throughout the islands of Okinawa prefecture and an advisory for gales in the area, according to its Web site. The government in Tokyo set up a liaison office to prepare for a possible disaster, Kyodo News reported.

All Nippon Airways Co. and Japan Airlines Corp., the nation's largest domestic carriers, canceled a total of 36 flights today to and from Okinawa affecting about 7,580 people, the airlines said.

A CATEGORY FOUR STORM

The typhoon is a Category Four storm, the second-strongest on the five-level Saffir-Simpson scale.

Man-Yi was moving north-northwest at about 15 mph and the storm's eye is forecast to pass to the west of Naha late tonight or early tomorrow with further strengthening expected.

The storm's winds were gusting to 171 mph near its center and typhoon-strength winds of 73 mph extend out as far as 91 miles from the eye, the Navy said. Wave heights are as high as 38 feet near Man- Yi's center.

By 3 a.m. Japan time tomorrow, Man-Yi's winds are expected to be blowing at 155 mph, with gusts to 189 mph.

The eye of Man-Yi is expected to cross Okinawa and swing northeast, crossing the southern coast of Kyushu and passing Shukoku before approaching Tokyo on Honshu on Sunday afternoon. By then, the storm is expected to weaken, with winds slowing to 75 mph.