A powerful typhoon that threatened to slam into the Philippines at the weekend has changed course and may be heading for southern Japan, the state weather bureau said Thursday.

Songda, which was originally forecast to hit the eastern side of the main Philippine island of Luzon on Friday, instead veered northwards with its eye no longer expected to hit any part of the country.

With winds of up to 150 kilometres (93 miles) an hour, Songda was nonetheless expected to bring some rains over parts of Luzon in the next two days as it moves north.

Over 200,000 people had been pre-emptively evacuated in the eastern Bicol region to avoid floods and landslides but were expected to return to their homes soon, regional civil defence chief Bernardo Alejandro said.

"By the end of the day, they will all have left for home," Alejandro told AFP.

An average of 20 storms and typhoons, some of them deadly, hit the Philippines every year. Tropical storm Aere left 31 people dead after cutting across Luzon island early this month.