A large typhoon is expected to move close to the Okinawa region in southwestern Japan. Weather officials are urging residents to be on alert for stormy winds, high waves and torrential rain.

Japan's Meteorological Agency says that as of 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Typhoon Mawar was moving north-northeast at 10 kilometers per hour about 250 kilometers south of the island of Miyakojima.

The storm has a central atmospheric pressure of 965 hectopascals, with winds of up to 126 kilometers per hour near its center and gusts of up to 180 kilometers per hour.

Winds of at least 90 kilometers per hour are blowing within 165 kilometers of the storm's center.

The Sakishima Islands and parts of the Okinawa main island region are now in the typhoon's strong wind zone.

A maximum wind speed of about 110 kilometers per hour was observed at Hirara in the city of Miyakojima at around 6:30 p.m.

The typhoon is expected to bring violent winds to the Okinawa region on Thursday and Friday and Kagoshima Prefecture's Amami region on Friday.

Maximum instantaneous wind speeds are expected to hit 162 kilometers per hour in the Okinawa region on Thursday, and 144 to 216 kilometers per hour on Friday.

Although Japan's main island of Honshu is far from the typhoon's path, heavy rain is forecast for the area from Thursday through Saturday, as moist air is flowing into a front spreading from the main part of western Japan to eastern Japan.

In the 24 hours through Friday evening, the Shikoku region is expected to get 200 to 300 millimeters of rain. The Kinki and Tokai regions are likely to receive 100 to 200 millimeters, while 100 to 150 millimeters may fall in the Chugoku, Hokuriku and Kanto-Koshin regions.