Devastating magnitudes of flood disasters have been occurring in various areas of Japan, and their impact has been increasing in recent years. Looking ahead, it is foreseen that rainfall and its patterns will be altered due to the climate change accompanied by global warming, and there is concern that the intensity and frequency of flood disasters might be exacerbated. This paper aims to introduce flood characteristics and management policies in Japan that have been undertaken for a long time in order to mitigate these recurrent flood disasters. It also highlights extremely devastating floods in some areas that occurred under recent climate variability, and to address the progress in the assessment of hydro-meteorological tendencies and in the promotion of dialogue among climatologists and hydrologists. Lastly, a new initiative to establish an intemational centre on water-related hazards and its risk management is presented.