Tokyo, Japan:

Japan Airlines on Thursday reported a cyberattack that caused delays to domestic and international flights but later said it had found and addressed the cause.

Problems with the airline’s baggage check-in system had delayed more than a dozen flights at several Japanese airports, public broadcaster NHK said, but there were no mass cancellations or major disruption.

Japan Airlines (JAL) is the country’s second-biggest airline after All Nippon Airways (ANA).

“We identified and addressed the cause of the issue. We are checking the system recovery status,” JAL said in a post on social media platform X.

“Sales for both domestic and international flights departing today have been suspended. We apologize for any inconvenience caused,” the post said.

Earlier Thursday, a JAL spokeswoman told AFP the company had been subjected to a cyberattack.

Network disruption began at 7:24 am on Thursday (2224 GMT Wednesday), JAL said in a statement.

Then “at 8:56 am, we temporarily isolated the router (a device for exchanging data between networks) that was causing the disruption”, it added.

JAL shares fell as much as 2.5 percent in morning trade after the news emerged, before recovering slightly.

The airline is just the latest Japanese firm to be hit by a cyber attack.

Japan’s space agency JAXA said in 2023 that it was likely penetrated by a cyber attack by unknown entities, but no sensitive information about rockets or satellites was accessed.

The same year, Nagoya Port, one of Japan’s busiest, was crippled by a ransomware attack that was blamed on Lockbit, a Russia-based cybercrime organisation.

Japan’s National Center of Incident Readiness and Strategy for Cybersecurity (NISC) — the agency responsible for defences against cyberattacks — was itself reportedly infiltrated by hackers in 2023 for as long as nine months.

In 2022, the government said a cyberattack was behind disruption at a Toyota supplier that forced the top-selling automaker to halt operations at domestic plants for a day.

More recently, the popular Japanese video-sharing website Niconico suspended its services in June because it was under a large-scale cyberattack, its operator said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Japan Airlines has launched a same-day luggage delivery service that offers foreign tourists arriving at Haneda Airport’s Terminal 3 an option to transport their bags straight to their hotels for a fee of 4,500 yen (about USD 29) per suitcase, reported CNN. The airline promises to deliver the luggage the same day, excluding weather or traffic-related delays.

The new service, unveiled on December 5, intends to provide passengers with a more convenient and enjoyable arrival experience while reducing traffic on Tokyo’s public transit networks.

“The ‘Baggage-Free’ travel service from Haneda Airport aims to address social issues such as congestion in public transportation and the shortage of storage lockers, providing a more convenient travel experience for tourists,” the airline said.

In addition to foreign tourists, the service is also available to Japanese citizens as well as those who do not fly with JAL. However, you can use it only for hotel drop-offs and not for private residences, Airbnbs, rented apartments, or any other type of lodging. Travellers staying at hotels in 14 different districts — Shinjuku, Shinagawa, Chiyoda, Chuo, Minato, Koto, Ota, Shibuya, Taito, Toshima, Bunkyo, Sumida, Meguro and Edogawa — can avail same-day delivery service.

When JAL passengers use this amenity, their accounts will be credited with 50 frequent flyer points. The service is offered daily from 4 am to 6 pm in the Terminal 3 arrivals hall at Haneda Airport.

How to avail of the service

To avail of the delivery assistance, passengers must reserve and pay in advance. The travellers can scan the 2D barcode on the poster in front of the JAL ABC counter. They must fill out the application, pick up a baggage sticker from a nearby machine, attach it to their luggage, and check in their bags at the desk.

Since Japan’s reopening after the pandemic, overtourism has been a major problem in the country. According to the Japanese National Tourism Organisation, Japan hosted 3.2 million tourists in July, roughly 66% more than the same month in 2023. The Japanese government is expecting to surpass its target of 32 million visitors this year.

Authorities have been urging tourists to spread out and visit less-travelled areas of Japan. JAL also offered complimentary connecting flights to lesser-known Japanese destinations to customers flying in from North America.

Tokyo:

Japan braced Wednesday for its strongest typhoon of the year, with authorities advising tens of thousands of people to evacuate and issuing the highest warning level for wind and storm surges on the main southern island of Kyushu.

“Typhoon Shanshan is expected to approach southern Kyushu with extremely strong force through Thursday and it may make landfall,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi told reporters.

“It is expected that violent winds, high waves, and storm surge at levels that many people have never experienced before may occur,” said Hayashi, the top government spokesman.

The approach of the storm, packing gusts of up to 252 kilometres (157 miles) per hour and already bringing widespread heavy rain, prompted auto giant Toyota to suspend production at all 14 of its factories.

Two people remained unaccounted for on Wednesday after a landslide buried a house with five family members inside in Gamagori, a city in central Aichi prefecture.

Rescuers worked around the clock and on Wednesday afternoon they pulled out a woman in her 70s.

“She wasn’t breathing and was unconscious,” a Gamagori official told AFP. They were still searching for a man in his 70s and another in his 30s.

For southern Kyushu, the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) predicted 1,100 millimetres (43 inches) of precipitation in the 48 hours to Friday morning, around half the annual average for the area comprising Kagoshima and Miyazaki regions.

The JMA also issued its highest “special warning” for violent storms, waves and high tides in parts of the Kagoshima region of Kyushu, with authorities there advising 56,000 people to evacuate.

Video on public broadcaster NHK TV showed roof tiles being blown off houses, broken windows and felled trees.

“Our carport roof was blown away in its entirety. I wasn’t at home when it happened, but my kids say they felt the shaking so strong they thought an earthquake happened,” a local resident in Miyazaki told NHK.

“I was surprised. It was completely beyond our imagination,” she said.

The warnings indicate the “possibility that a major disaster prompted by (the typhoon) is extremely high,” Satoshi Sugimoto, chief forecaster of JMA, told a news conference.

Japan Airlines cancelled 172 domestic flights and six international flights scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday, while ANA nixed 219 domestic flights and four international ones on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

The cancellations affected around 25,000 people.

Kyushu Railway said it would suspend some Shinkansen bullet train services between Kumamoto and Kagoshima Chuo from Wednesday night and warned of further possible disruption.

Trains between Tokyo and Fukuoka, the most populous city in Kyushu, may also be cancelled depending on weather conditions this week, other operators said.

Shanshan comes in the wake of Typhoon Ampil, which disrupted hundreds of flights and trains this month.

Despite dumping heavy rain, it caused only minor injuries and damage.

Ampil came days after Tropical Storm Maria brought record rains to northern areas.

Typhoons in the region have been forming closer to coastlines, intensifying more rapidly and lasting longer over land due to climate change, according to a study released last month.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)