Japan's weather agency issued Saturday a special typhoon warning for Kagoshima Prefecture in the country's southwest as an "unprecedented" storm approached.

Large and powerful Typhoon Nanmadol could make landfall in Kagoshima and bring record rain to the prefecture and nearby areas, with the agency calling for maximum vigilance as violent winds and high waves are expected, possibly triggering landslides and flooding.

Such emergency warnings are only issued when an extraordinary natural phenomenon occurring once in a few decades is predicted in the country. It is the first such alert for areas apart from Okinawa Prefecture.

Ryuta Kurora, director of forecasts at the agency, told a press conference that the typhoon had rapidly intensified since Friday night and was "a dangerous (storm) like we have never experienced before."

The slow-moving typhoon was expected to pass very close to the Amami Islands and southern Kyushu from Saturday night to Monday, according to the agency.

The agency said the typhoon, which had an atmospheric pressure of 910 hectopascals at its center, could cause linear rainbands in the regions through Sunday before moving northeast and later possibly traveling across the country's main archipelago.

The typhoon, packing winds of up to 198 kilometers per hour with maximum gusts of 270 kph, is forecast to bring heavy rain to various parts of Japan during the three-day weekend through Monday.

The agency said southern Kyushu could receive up to 500 millimeters of rain in the 24 hours to 6 a.m. Sunday, while the Shikoku and Tokai regions in western and central Japan could see up to 300 mm of rainfall.

Some operators of trains and retail chains already decided to suspend part of their services in the Kyushu region on Sunday.

==Kyodo