It was clear days before landfall that this was a huge storm; the ships should have already been enroute, and other supplies staged in Guam and Okinawa.
Wouldn't travelling from Okinawa to Philippines have put those ships in the path of the storm?
Not quite, japan is north of the Philippines and the storm hit the southern end. Still, I'm sure with a storm that large, it would make for a rough trip.
I really hope they are better prepared next time, because there will definitely be another super storm typhoon like this. And I hope when they rebuild new structures in these coastal areas, they will be higher and stronger to withstand these things.
People there are always prepared, they know that it's typhoon season around this time of the year. But there's only so much preparation you can do with the money they have.
Plus they had an earthquake recently, so some of this was already weakened by that.