Oct. 1 (Bloomberg) -- Japan kept in place warnings for potentially damaging rains and flooding as Tropical Storm Jangmi faded and changed direction to a path that is expected to take it away from Kyushu and over the Pacific Ocean.

The center of Jangmi was passing over sparsely populated islands to the south of Kyushu in southwestern Japan and heading east away from land at 8 a.m., the Japan Meteorological Agency said on its Web site. The storm's winds weakened to 65 kilometers (40 miles) per hour from 83 kph yesterday.

The agency maintained lower level alerts for high waves and strong winds throughout Okinawa and Kyushu. Japan Airlines Corp., the nation's largest carrier by sales, canceled 8 flights to and from Kyushu today, it said in a faxed statement.

Jangmi is the 19th storm of the northwest Pacific cyclone season and means ``rose'' in Korean, according to the Hong Kong Observatory, which lists cyclone names in use in the Pacific.

To contact the reporter on this story: Aaron Sheldrick in Tokyo at asheldrick@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: September 30, 2008 20:35 EDT