Latest news with #GreatTohokuEarthquake
&w=3840&q=100)
Business Standard
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Business Standard
Here's why a Manga prediction crashed Japan's tourist numbers in June
Visitor interest in Japan saw a downturn in June, following widespread speculation linked to a prophecy in a Japanese manga predicting a 'disaster' in July 2025. The forecast originated in a 2021 reprint of the manga 'Watashi ga Mita Mirai, Kanzenban', which translates to 'The Future That I Saw, Complete Edition' by artist Ryo Tatsuki. The manga's original 1999 edition featured a reference to a 'disaster in March 2011'. In March 2011, Japan experienced the catastrophic Great Tohoku Earthquake, its most powerful recorded quake, which resulted in nearly 20,000 deaths and triggered the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear crisis. The Amazon listing for the manga's reprint, as translated by Google, claimed the author had 'new prophetic dreams' and warned that the 'real disaster will come in July 2025". Prophecy widely circulated across TV networks, influencers CN Yuen, managing director of Hong Kong-based travel agency WWPKG, was quoted as saying by CNBC that the rumour gained major traction in Hong Kong, spreading rapidly across mainstream media, television networks, and YouTube influencers. As a result, tourist arrivals from Hong Kong to Japan fell by 33.4 per cent year-on-year in June, following an 11.2 per cent decline in May, according to data from Japan's National Tourism Organisation. Yuen stated that his agency observed a 50 per cent drop in bookings and enquiries for travel to Japan during April and May compared to the previous year. Broader slowdown across Asia Tourist inflows from other Asian countries also slowed. Visitor numbers from South Korea reportedly rose just 3.8 per cent in June, a fall from May's 11.8 per cent growth. Similarly, arrivals from Taiwan slumped from a 15.5 per cent increase in May to only 1.8 per cent in June. From January to May 2025, overseas arrivals to Japan reportedly rose by an average of 24 per cent year-on-year. However, June saw only a 7.6 per cent increase, signalling a marked slowdown. 'This time, it's different' Yuen noted that travel downturns after natural disasters are common, which usually end after the incident is over. Yuen said that this time was different, as nothing had actually happened and it was merely a rumour or prophecy. Earlier in July, media outlets in both Hong Kong and Japan reported that airlines had reduced flights between Hong Kong and certain Japanese cities, including Nagoya. Zilmiyah Kamble, a senior lecturer in hospitality and tourism management at James Cook University, told CNBC the cultural authority of manga, coupled with memories of past disasters and Japan's real seismic vulnerability, meant such warnings resonated deeply in the region. In this case, she said a fictional narrative amplified by social media could have provided a compelling—though scientifically unfounded—reason for people to postpone their travel plans.
NBC News
30-07-2025
- Science
- NBC News
Massive earthquake off Russia's east coast is one of the most powerful ever recorded
The earthquake that struck Russia's eastern Kamchatka region and triggered tsunami warnings across the Pacific is among the most powerful temblors to have been recorded in modern history. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) may revise the magnitude of the earthquake, but if it remains at 8.8, this quake would be tied with the sixth strongest ever, which struck central Chile in 2010, killing more than 500 people and destroying over 370,000 homes. Russian authorities have called the latest quake a 'remarkable event.' It struck at a depth of an estimated 13 miles, about 74 miles off the coast of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, the regional capital on the Kamchatka Peninsula, with a population of 180,000. Despite its strength, early reports indicate that there have been no deaths or significant damage from the event and that recorded tsunami waves reached a maximum of 9.8 to 13.1 feet in Russia, 4.9 feet in Japan and 5.7 feet in Hawaii. David Tappin, principal researcher at the British Geological Survey, said he's surprised by this. 'When I first saw it was 8.8, I must admit, I thought, 'Oh, we're going back to maybe Japan,'' he said, referring to the 2011 earthquake that triggered a huge tsunami, killing more than 20,000 people and causing a meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. Now referred to as the 'Great Tohoku Earthquake,' it had a magnitude of 9.1, the fourth most powerful ever recorded. The waves from that tsunami reached as high as 130 feet, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, hitting the coast at a height of about 50 feet. 'At the present time, it seems quite anomalous. 8.8 magnitude generating a 4-meter tsunami seems very unusual but … the information on the tsunami impact is still quite limited,' Tappin said, adding that he would have expected a tsunami of at least 10 meters, or about 33 feet. He said the relatively insignificant damage reported so far could be due to the remoteness of the epicenter and the effectiveness of the warning systems. 'It seems to me that the warning system kicked in, and warnings were given in Japan initially, Hawaii and off the West Coast of the U.S. So it just demonstrates the importance of having these warning systems,' Tappin said. 'In this instance, perhaps the tsunami wasn't large, but it saves people's lives.' The fifth-strongest earthquake ever recorded, a 9.0 tremor, also hit the Kamchatka region in 1952. Its epicenter was less than 19 miles from this one. In that disaster, the waves reached up to 50 feet and killed at least 1,790 people, with some historians putting the death toll as high as 8,000, according to the Russian Military Historical Society. The region has experienced nearly 700 earthquakes with magnitudes over 5.0 since 1990, according to the USGS. The most powerful earthquake ever recorded was the magnitude-9.5 'Valdivia' or 'Great Chilean' earthquake, which hit central Chile in 1960, killing more than 1,600 people and leaving 2 million homeless. One of the world's most deadly earthquakes was the third most powerful ever recorded, which struck off the coast of Sumatra, Indonesia, on Boxing Day in 2004. The 9.1-magnitude quake triggered massive tsunamis reaching up to 100 feet and killed an estimated 280,000 people.
