"Manga's 2025 Japan Disaster Prediction Causes Holiday Plan Cancellations"

Over the past few weeks, a once-obscure manga titled "The Future I Saw" (Watashi ga Mita Mirai) by Ryo Tatsuki has surged into the spotlight both in Japan and internationally. This manga, which first saw the light of day in 1999, has gained notoriety for its author's claim of an impending massive natural disaster slated to strike Japan in July 2025. This prediction has led some holiday-makers to reconsider their summer plans to visit Japan, sparking a wave of discussions and concerns across Japanese social media platforms. The question arises: why are some individuals taking Tatsuki’s predictions seriously, and how has an upcoming Japanese horror movie become entangled in this escalating panic?

"The Future I Saw" is not just any manga; it features Tatsuki as a character and draws from her dream diaries, which she has maintained since 1985. The 1999 edition's cover art depicts Tatsuki with a hand covering one eye, surrounded by postcards symbolizing her "visions," one of which eerily reads, "March 2011: A Great Disaster." Following the catastrophic Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami in March 2011, interest in Tatsuki's work resurfaced, driving up prices for the out-of-print manga on auction sites.

People pray as they take part in a minute's silence to remember the victims on the 14th anniversary of the 2011 earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear disaster. Photo by STR/JIJI PRESS/AFP via Getty Images.

In 2021, Tatsuki released an updated version of her work titled "The Future I Saw: Complete Edition," where she added a new premonition: a tsunami three times the size of the 2011 disaster would hit Japan in July 2025. Given her seemingly accurate prediction of the 2011 event, this new forecast quickly spread across social media, amplifying public concern.

Media reports suggest that Tatsuki's prediction for July 2025 has influenced some superstitious travelers to cancel their plans to visit Japan, especially in Hong Kong, where the manga is available in translation. Hong Kong-based fortune-teller Master Seven has further fueled these fears by asserting that Japan's earthquake risk will be elevated between June and August this year. As a result, Hong Kong Airlines has canceled its weekly flights to Sendai, a city severely affected by the 2011 earthquake, while Greater Bay Airlines has reduced its direct flights to Sendai and Tokushima from May to October due to declining demand. Economic uncertainty alongside the disaster predictions has been cited as a contributing factor. Miyagi Prefecture Governor Yoshihiro Murai has criticized the "unscientific foundations" of these predictions and encouraged tourists to disregard them.

The heightened media attention on "The Future I Saw" and its supposed impact on tourism has reignited interest in the manga, which has now sold over 1 million copies of its Complete Edition. This resurgence in interest coincides with the release of a new Japanese horror movie titled "July 5 2025, 4:18 AM," set to premiere on June 27. The film, inspired by Tatsuki's July 2025 prediction, follows a protagonist experiencing strange occurrences on her birthday, July 5. The movie's title has led to some confusion on social media, with some erroneously believing it refers to the exact date and time of the predicted disaster. This misunderstanding prompted Asuka Shinsha, the manga's publisher, to issue a statement clarifying that Tatsuki did not specify this date and time, urging the public to be wary of misleading information.

Japan is no stranger to natural disasters such as earthquakes, tsunamis, floods, and landslides. While Tatsuki’s predictions may lack scientific backing, they tap into a broader, evidence-based fear: seismologists estimate a 70-80% chance of a Nankai Trough megaquake striking Japan within the next 30 years. Recent government revisions on the projected death toll for such an event, expected around the end of March 2025, have rekindled public concerns. A Nankai Trough megaquake could devastate a significant portion of Japan, potentially causing around 300,000 fatalities and generating massive tsunamis. Despite this, the Japan Meteorological Agency labels exact predictions of major earthquakes and tsunamis as "hoaxes." It seems Tatsuki's March 2011 prediction may have been a fortunate coincidence.

On social media platforms like X, many Japanese-speaking users have criticized the media's role in stoking panic over Tatsuki’s predictions. One user stated, "It’s stupid to believe in disaster predictions from a manga. The Nankai Trough quake could happen today or tomorrow." Tatsuki herself has responded to the attention, expressing satisfaction if her work has heightened disaster preparedness but cautioning against being "overly influenced" by her premonitions and encouraging reliance on expert opinions.