No, this is not an advice column about how to avoid typhoons (get it, TIP).  I had never heard of the event that took place just about 30 years ago.  Everything I've looked at calls this the most intense storm on record, and possibly produced the highest wind of a tropical storm ever.

Typhoons are in the Pacific Ocean, west of the International Date Line, and this one was especially strong and in the far west Pacific.  On October 12th, 1979, the typhoon registered a measured minimum pressure of 870 mb and gusts as high as 190 mph.  The storm was so large, that it had a circulation that would have covered 1350 miles.  That's a little more than the distance (as a crow flies) from Sioux Falls to San Fransico.  At its peak the eye was 9.3 miles wide, which is further than I can run, in a day.

Luckily the Typhoon didn't stay strong as it approached land.  While it was very strong it did effect ships and air traffic, and killed 44 fisherman.  As it made landfall, the winds had calmed to 80 mph on October 19th, 7 days after it's peak intensity.  However, intense rains fell on a mountainous area of Japan and caused mudslides and flooding that damaged or destoryed bridges and caused damage to the fishing industry.  Sadly 42 were killed and 71 were missing, but it could have been much worse.

Here's some links for more information on Typhoon Tip (my referenses for this post)