The rainy season is underway in central and western Japan, the weather agency said Sunday, warning of landslides in quake-hit Kyushu.

Rainy weather prevailed in the Kanto-Koshin region Sunday as well as in the Kyushu, Chugoku and Shikoku regions on Saturday, the Meteorological Agency said. Cloudy days are expected to continue for about a week in those areas plus in the Kinki and central Tokai regions, it said.

The rainy season, which normally lasts until around July 21, began three days earlier than usual in Kanto-Koshin, four days later in southern Kyushu, a day earlier in northern Kyushu and Shikoku, three days earlier in Chugoku (excluding Yamaguchi Prefecture), three days earlier in Kinki centering on Osaka, and four days earlier in Tokai around Nagoya, the agency said.

This year's rainy season started in Okinawa Prefecture and the Amami region of Kagoshima Prefecture on May 16.

The rainy season typically lasts until late July in most parts of the country except Hokkaido, the agency said.

In the Okinawa and Amami island chains, the season starts and ends about a month earlier than elsewhere, it said.