Chata'an churned along Japan's northern Pacific coast last week, causing heavy rains and flooding north of Tokyo, More than 100,000 people were urged to evacuate their homes.

The death toll from the storm in Japan rose to five. Two bodies were found buried by a landslide, and a third on the bank of a raging river in central Gifu prefecture.

The two previous fatalities were a 13-year-old boy, swept into a swollen river as he looked for a soccer ball, and another boy who fell into a lake.

A third major storm, Nakri, weakened after roaring past Taiwan on Wednesday, but Japanese Meteorological Agency officials said strong gusts of wind from the former typhoon were still buffeting Japan's southern Okinawa island chain.

Japan lifted some flood warnings and evacuation advisories by afternoon as the force of Chata'an's winds slowed to levels considered a tropical storm by international standards.

The Meteorological Agency later confirmed that the typhoon, packing winds of up to 72 km (45 miles) an hour, had landed on Hokkaido shortly before 1200 GMT.

Swathes of rice fields in parts of northern Japan were flooded after some areas were hit with more than 300 mm (12 inches) of rain in 24 hours.

Officials in Kesennuma, a low-lying coastal city, advised some 60,000 people to evacuate as a precautionary measure.

PHILIPPINE DEATH TOLL CLIMBS

The number of deaths in the Philippines from flooding, landslides and rain triggered by Chata'an rose to 37 last week, disaster officials said. Four were still missing and 41 injured.

More than 10,400 people who fled their flooded homes in Manila and nearby provinces remained in temporary shelters, the National Disaster Coordinating Council said.

Chata'an passed over the U.S. territory of Guam last Friday, uprooting trees and utility poles, after triggering landslides in Micronesia's Chuuk coral lagoon that killed at least 39 people.

It then moved on to the Philippines before slamming into Japan's southeastern coast on Wednesday.

Rail, air and road traffic returned to normal in Tokyo and surrounding areas after the storm swept past in the early hours of Thursday, bringing high winds and heavy rains as it briefly touched land on the Boso Peninsula east of the city before heading back to sea.

By midday, sunny skies had returned to much of Japan as flood waters receded and clean-up operations began.

Residents in several areas of Gifu prefecture, some parts of which received more than 400 mm (16 inches) of rain on Wednesday, began returning to their homes to sweep away debris and shovel mud. (Additional reporting by Elaine Lies).