Mega earthquake fears hit Japan - sparked by manga comic that accurately predicted 2011 tsunami disaster
Mega earthquake fears have hit Japan after a manga comic predicted a 'real catastrophe' there this summer.
In The Future I Saw, a comic published in 1999 by Ryo Tatsuki, a huge quake prompts scores of tsunami waves to engulf the East Asian country in July 2025.
Many believe Tatsuki's warnings should be taken seriously after she also reportedly claimed to have accurately predicted other natural disasters, including the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami in 2011.
Her grisly forecast has fuelled social media posts warning people to stay away from the nation and is thought to be the cause of a dramatic drop in the number of holidaymakers planning to visit this year.
According to a Bloomberg Intelligence analysis of ForwardKeys data, airline bookings from Taiwan and South Korea have fallen since April, with the number of Hong Kong flight bookings being roughly 50 per cent lower than last year.
Weekly arrival bookings for late June to early July from the Asian financial hub also dropped by over 80 percent, the analysis showed.
A travel agency in Hong Kong said the manga had already impacted people's holiday plans, with bookings to Japan during the April-May spring break down by half from last year.
On March 11, 2011, an undersea earthquake resulted in a huge tsunami, killing 19,759 people in it's wake. Pictured: Huge waves breach an embankment in the city of Miyako in Iwate prefecture, in the wake of the earthquake on March 11, 2011
Greater Bay Airlines said it was initially puzzled that spring bookings were lower than in previous years, given that demand is usually high during the cherry blossom-viewing season in Japan and the Easter holidays in Hong Kong.
'We expected around 80% of the seats to be taken, but actual reservations came to only 40%,' said Hiroki Ito, the general manager of the airline's Japan office, told the Asahi Shimbun recently.
The airline – along with Hong Kong Airlines – has reduced services to Japan, even as officials urged travellers to ignore the rumours.
But, holidaymakers are reluctant to disregard Tatsuki's prophecy's following her eerily accurate predictions of some of the world's most devastating catastrophes.
The psychic has also correctly predicted the deaths of Freddie Mercury, Princess Diana, along with a number of major world events - including the Kobe earthquake in 1995, the Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami in 2011, and even the Covid-19 pandemic.
In 1999, after consistently having what she described as visions of the future, Tatsuki released her book which was titled, 'The Future I Saw'. In it, she detailed the eerie visions that she'd had, some of which have since come true.
In 2021, Tatsuki released an updated version of 'The Future I Saw' which included a prediction of a major disaster in mid-2025.
Tatsuki claims to have foreseen an undersea volcanic eruption that will impact multiple countries across Asia - with Taiwan, Indonesia, and the Northern Mariana Islands set be hit the hardest.
She claimed the impact zone covered a diamond shape encompassing the Asian countries.
Adding to the bone-chilling prediction, the oracle also mentioned seeing 'dragon-like shapes' in her prophesying dreams - which some have linked to visual patterns near Hawaii and other vulnerable coastlines.
While experts have issued caution over the warning, Japan is positioned on the Pacific Ring of Fire, and also has the Nankai Trough meaning it is more susceptible to large earthquakes and tsunamis.
Although there is 'no scientific basis for Tatsuki's claims,' seismologists pointed out that 'the location she describes isn't far-fetched from a geological standpoint', as reported by Times Now.
And it appears she could be right, as just last month the Chinese Embassy issued a warning to Japanese citizens against what it warned might be a megaquake that could 'kill thousands'.
Japan, which is one of the world's most earthquake-prone countries, could take an economical battering worth $1.81 trillion, the government added following an assessment made in January.
At the time, Japan's earthquake investigation panel increased the probability of a megaquake happening within the next 30 years to over 80 per cent.
Tatsuki, who also has a career as a manga artist, first gained notoriety after a number of predictions from her 1999 book titled, The Future I Saw, appeared to come to fruition.
While she was largely unknown at the time of publication, Tatsuki has since became a recognised force among supernaturals.
The oracle claimed she began having premonitions in the early 1980s after a number of her vivid dreams came true.
Her book has recently gained renewed interest after a number of her premonitions made in hindsight appeared to mirror real life events.
Amongst her chilling predictions for the future, Tatsuki is said to have accurately foretold the sudden death of Freddie Mercury.
She claims to have seen images of the Queen frontman dying suddenly in a dream on November 24, 1976.
Exactly 15 years to the day later, the singer died aged 45 from complications of having AIDS.
She is also thought to have predicted the death of Princess Diana.
A year after later, Tatsuki claimed she had a dream in which she saw a woman standing at the end of a corridor in a palace. Stood at the end, she saw a portrait of a blonde woman holding a baby, with the picture named 'Diana'.
Five years to the day later, she claimed she had another dream about the Princess in which she saw her die in the car crash.
The prophet has previously said that her predictive dreams arrive in a period of time that can be divided by five.
Then in 1995, Tatsuki said that dreamed an old man led her to 'cracked earth', leading her to predict that the Japanese city of Kobe would be 'cracked' in either 15 days or 15 years.
And thus her prophecy came true as 15 days later, Kobe was struck by an insidious earthquake that killed more than 5,000 people. It is now considered the second deadliest earthquake of the 20th century.
Elsewhere in her book, she also predicted there would be a 'great disaster' that would occur in 2011.
Low and behold, on March 11, 2011, an undersea earthquake resulted in a huge tsunami, killing 19,759 people in it's wake.
It has also been alleged that Tatsuki accurately predicted the onset of the Covid pandemic.
Writing in her book, she predicted: 'In 25 years, an unknown virus will come in 2020, will disappear after peaking in April, and appear again 10 years later.'
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More like this:• The women saving Japan's vanishing cuisine• The eight Asian sauces to keep in your pantry• How the bullet train transformed Japan Shopping in Uji became more stressful than I anticipated, as I spent my time wondering if I should be trying to snag the last remaining tins of matcha in town. But even if visitors miss out on taking home a stash of ceremonial matcha, there's no shortage of other products to enjoy. Suzuki hopes that travellers will turn an eye toward other teas such as vibrant senchas or earthy gyokuros. There's also hojicha, the roasted cousin to matcha that tastes more of nuts and chocolate than chlorophyll, and – in my opinion – tastier than matcha. Despite the shortage of matcha powder, Uji is still like a tea-themed park with an endless diversity of products. At Nakamura Tokichi I order a tea-infused soba noodle and matcha parfait, and from souvenir shops I purchase matcha fettuccine and curry. Eateries dish up matcha gyozas, takoyaki and ramen. 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