The Same Ocean: Japan Reports Only a Number, Mexico Gives It a Person's Name

Last night, while scrolling, I came across two images: one was a typhoon track map from the Japan Meteorological Agency, headed "Typhoon No. 25"; the other was a news push from Mexico, headed "Hurricane Polo".

I stared at the screen for a long while — both were over the Pacific, yet one side had only a number and the other had a person's name.

Two Real Things Over the Pacific This Week

• Northwest Pacific: data from the Japan Meteorological Agency shows that Typhoon No. 25 (international name DUJUAN, written ドゥージェン in Japanese kana, Dujuan in Chinese) was located east of Japan at 18:00 on 22 September, moving east-northeast at about 45 km/h, and later weakened into an extratropical low. In the early hours of the 23rd the Japan Meteorological Agency issued information on a new tropical depression: it may develop into a typhoon within 24 hours and is expected to approach the waters south of Okinawa around the 27th (all of the above as of filing; please refer to the latest releases from the meteorological authorities).
• Eastern Pacific: according to CNN en Español, hurricane Polo strengthened from a tropical storm all the way to Category 5 between 21 September and the morning of the 22nd, and the US National Hurricane Center described it as adding about 177 km/h of wind speed within 24 hours, an intensification rate that is "genuinely unusual"; updates in local media since then show it has fallen back to Category 4.

Why Japan Gives Only a Number

"Typhoon No. 25" does not mean it has no name; rather, Japan's broadcasts habitually use a number in order of occurrence: which number, the track, the forecast circle — everything rests on what can be verified. It has a name as well — DUJUAN, supplied by the naming list.

The naming list is the Northwest Pacific and South China Sea tropical cyclone naming list of the ESCAP/WMO Typhoon Committee, whose members take turns contributing names and reuse them in cycles. According to the table in the "Typhoon Naming" section of China's National Meteorological Center, the names contributed by China include a group drawn from myth and nature: Wukong (Sun Wukong), Haishen (the sea god of myth), Fengshen (the wind god of myth), Tianma (the flying horse of ancient myth), as well as Mulan, Bailu, Yinxing, Dianmu and others.

In other words, names like Dujuan, Wukong and Haishen were queued up by people and handed in one member at a time. Hurricanes in the eastern Pacific and the Atlantic use a different method instead — they use personal names directly, which is why there is a Polo.

A Name Has Never Been a Small Matter in Folklore

Giving a wind a name is something we have done for a long time: China's Feng Bo and Feilian, Japan's wind god and thunder god (Fujin and Raijin), and the many coastal regions where people still make offerings to the sea before the fishing season opens — all of it is the same move: give it a name first, and only then can you deal with it.

This is also why "naming taboos" are a serious matter in tradition: the way you address a thing is believed to affect your relationship with it. Today we number typhoons and give hurricanes personal names — the logic has not changed, only reverence has been swapped for record-keeping.

When It Comes to Wind, the Everyday Question Is Timing

For ordinary people, the concrete question a storm raises is usually not "what is it called" but "when do I set out, and which way do I go". Questions of that kind are worked through in the finest detail in Qi Men Dun Jia Basics: Nine Palaces, Four Plates, useful element — it reads direction and timing on a single chart.

If the question itself is still unresolved and you want to know whether now is the moment to push ahead, another approach is drawing a lot: the lot poems are graded into upper, middle and lower, each read in its own way, and San Shan Guo Wang Ling Qian: How to Draw and Read a Lot sets out both the procedure and the grades.

One aside: folklore is no substitute for weather warnings. When you travel in typhoon season, check what the meteorological authorities have published first, and everything else after that.

I told a friend in Mexico about this, that in Japan this typhoon is simply called No. 25. He replied: "That's boring." I said: "But this way nobody gets it wrong." If you also have timing to settle, on 占卜迷指 it works like this: you describe your trouble in natural language, the system recommends a suitable method, casts the chart and gives a reading, and you can export it to keep and compare against slowly.

Information current as of 23 September 2026 (China Standard Time).

Sources

• Japan Meteorological Agency typhoon information (T2625 DUJUAN, issued 2026-09-22 18:45)
• tenki.jp: Typhoon No. 25 (2026) latest position and track forecast
• RSK/TBS (Japan Meteorological Agency release of 2026-09-23 04:25): a new tropical depression, expected to approach south of Okinawa on the 27th
• CNN en Español (2026-09-22): Hurricane Polo strengthens to Category 5 (including the statement of about 177 km/h of added wind speed in 24 hours)
• China's National Meteorological Center: Typhoon naming (the ESCAP/WMO Typhoon Committee naming list)

Disclaimer: This article is traditional-culture and folklore content, for entertainment and self-reflection only. It does not constitute medical, psychological, investment, legal or marital decision advice. Please do not submit sensitive personal information such as ID or passport numbers or your home address. If you experience persistent insomnia, anxiety or physical discomfort, please seek medical attention or consult a professional promptly.