Asian tourist numbers to Japan are plummeting. A comic book is to blame

The Age

26-05-2025

Holiday bookings to Japan from key Asian markets have plunged ahead of the busy summer season. The cause: rumors of an impending earthquake prophesied in a manga graphic novel.
Social media and viral posts have unsettled travellers and renewed attention to manga artist Ryo Tatsuki's prediction of a huge earthquake that would inundate Japan with tsunami waves. Tatsuki, whom some claim predicted Japan's 2011 earthquake, gives July 2025 as the date of the impending event in a graphic novel that was first published back in 1999.
The manga was republished in 2021 with additional content and the quake speculation has gotten new life on social media recently, with YouTube videos and Facebook posts that warn people of travelling to Japan attracting millions of views.
Though scientists say the exact timing of earthquakes can't be predicted, airline bookings from Taiwan, South Korea and Hong Kong have dropped since April — with bookings from the latter plunging by an average of 50 per cent versus a year ago, according to a Bloomberg Intelligence analysis of ForwardKeys data. Weekly arrival bookings for late June to early July from the Asian financial hub have also nosedived by as much as 83 per cent.
Greater Bay Airlines and Hong Kong Airlines have both scaled back some flights to Japan this month as officials implore the general public not to give stock to the rumours.
Yoshihiro Murai, the governor of Miyagi prefecture, said last month the rumours were starting to affect tourism and asked people to not take the speculation seriously. Japan's Meteorological Agency's website reminded people that current science can't predict tremors with any high accuracy.
Japan's location in the so-called Ring of Fire, a region of heightened tectonic activity encircling the Pacific Ocean, makes it one of the world's most earthquake-prone countries. Japan's last major earthquake was in 2011, which caused a devastating tsunami and nuclear disaster in Fukushima.
Even so, overall tourism to Japan remains buoyant. In April, Japan recorded a record-breaking 3.9 million foreign visitors, lured by the cheap yen.