Latest news with #WWPKG
CNBC
31-07-2025
- Entertainment
- CNBC
Asian visitors to Japan fell because of a strange manga prediction. Here's why
Visitor interest in Japan plunged in June, amid a prophecy in a manga that predicted a "disaster" would strike Japan in July 2025. The prediction was in a 2021 reprint of a Japanese comic book, or manga, titled "Watashi ga Mita Mirai, Kanzenban" (which translates to "The Future That I Saw, Complete Edition") by artist Ryo Tatsuki. In the original printing of the book in 1999, the cover page referenced a "disaster in March 2011." In March 2011, Japan suffered its most powerful earthquake on record, the Great Tohoku Earthquake, which caused almost 20,000 deaths and the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster. The Amazon listing for the reprint stated that the author had "new prophetic dreams" including the "real disaster will come in July 2025," according to a Google translation. CN Yuen, managing director of Hong Kong-based travel agency WWPKG told CNBC that the rumor was widely circulated in Hong Kong, where it spread over mainstream media, TV networks and through YouTube influencers. Visitors arrivals from Hong Kong plunged 33.4% year on year in June, following an earlier 11.2% drop in May, according to Japan's National Tourism Organization. Yuen said his agency has seen a 50% decrease in bookings and inquiries in April and May to Japan from last year. Tourist arrivals from other Asian countries also experienced slower growth. Arrivals from South Korea rose just 3.8% in June compared with May's 11.8%. Arrivals from Taiwan slowed significantly as well, from a 15.5% increase in May to 1.8% in June. Overseas visitors to Japan grew 24%, on average, from January to May of this year, compared to 2024. But June arrivals only saw a 7.6% increase, according to Japan's travel statistics. WWPKG's Yuen said he is used to travel downturns related to natural disasters, which usually end after the incident is over. But "this time, it's different, because nothing happened actually. It's only a rumor, or prophecy," he told CNBC. "This is the first time we've seen such an incident." Hong Kong and Japanese media reported earlier in July that Hong Kong airlines cut flights to some Japanese cities, including Nagoya. A January report from Japan's Asahi Shimbun, citing the country's Headquarters for Earthquake Research Promotion, also warned that the likelihood of a megaquake in the next 30 years had risen to 80%—a development that, combined with the prediction, created a "perfect storm" to deter travelers, Yuen said. However, Japan's Meteorological Agency said: "It should be noted that the issuance of information indicating elevated potential for a Nankai Trough earthquake does not necessarily mean that one will actually strike." JNTO data showed that the share of Asian tourists fell year on year in June, but that of Western countries rose. Experts CNBC spoke to gave various reasons, including cultural ones. "Manga is not just entertainment; it is widely read across age groups and carries a bit of cultural authority in some Asian societies," said Zimbayah Kamble, a senior lecturer for hospitality at James Cook University. That, combined with memories of past disasters and the reality of Japan's seismic vulnerability, mean that such warnings "resonate strongly" in the region, she said. Kiattipoom Kiatkawsin, associate professor of hospitality and tourism management from the Singapore Institute of Management, said the rapid spread of the rumors through social media platforms and the collectivist nature of many Asian societies led to a social amplification of perceived risk. "This means that even if some individuals have doubts, the collective response of their community or peers can significantly influence their decisions, leading to widespread behavioral changes, such as travel cancelations," Kiatkawsin said. "In this case, a fictional narrative amplified by social media could have created a compelling, if scientifically unfounded reason to defer travel," he said. But both experts also pointed to a more ordinary reason: the flexibility of short-haul travel. Kiatkawsin said the costs of canceling the flights and hotel bookings are not perceived as a barrier anymore. "If they do not travel to Japan this time, they can go another time without much hassle to arrange again," he said he does not expect the prediction will affect Japan's overall travel outlook, given that the prediction is restricted to the month of July.
Daily Mirror
30-07-2025
- General
- Daily Mirror
'Japan's Baba Vanga' predicted today's earthquake and tsunami horror years ago
Ryo Tatsuki, a Japanese fortune teller who has been likened to Bulgarian mystic Baba Vanga, appears to have eerily predicted today's tsunami and earthquake chaos A psychic dubbed Japan's Baba Vanga appears to have predicted today's tsunami chaos following the 8.8 magnitude earthquake in Russia. Tsunami warnings are in place and mass evacuations are underway after the quake hit Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula. Authorities declared a state of emergency on the Kuril islands. They earlier reported several tsunami waves flooded the fishing port of Severokurilsk, the main city on the islands, and cut power supplies to the area. Russian authorities said tsunami waves topping 9.8ft hit Severokurilsk. Ryo Tatsuki, a comic artist and mystic, appears to have predicted the tsunamis currently unfolding. Previously, she was said to have foreseen the deaths of Freddie Mercury and Princess Diana as well as natural disasters like the Kobe earthquake in 2011. It comes after the 'UK's most dangerous plant' left toddler in A&E with second-degree burns. Ms Tatsuki, has been compared to Baba Vanga, the famous Bulgarian mystic, whose real name was Vangeliya Pandeva Gushterova. Vanga died at the age of 84 in 1996 having become famous for her clairvoyance. She claimed to have gained her powers during a terrible storm, when she lost her eyesight at 12 years old. Ms Tatsuki's book The Future as I See It, published in 1999, described an 'unknown virus' in 2020, leading many people to believe she correctly predicted Covid. And four years ago Ms Tatsuki published an updated version of her book in which she said the seas around southern Japan would "boil" on on July 5, 2025. Although she seems to have been a few days out, her predictions have resurfaced again today. Fear of another big earthquake in Japan has been building for years with the country sitting on a seismic fault line. Japan experiences around 1,500 noticeable earthquakes each year, according to the EarthScope Consortium and These earthquakes occur daily, though many are too small to be felt. The most recent major earthquake in Japan was on March 11, 2011 with a 9.0 magnitude force - which was also predicted by Ms Tatsuki. It caused a massive tsunami that claimed thousands of lives and led to the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster. CN Yuen, managing director of WWPKG, a travel agency based in Hong Kong, told CNN that bookings to Japan dropped by half during the Easter holiday. Visitors from China and Hong Kong, which are Japan's second and fourth biggest source of tourists, have dropped significantly. In Thailand and Vietnam posts online warning of earthquake danger have been gaining traction. The impact of her latest prediction is also being felt in South Korea and Taiwan, according to Bloomberg Intelligence. It used ForwardKeys data to gauge the impact on airline bookings and found that average bookings from Hong Kong were down 50% year-on-year. Flights between late June and early July had plummeted by as much as 83%.
Kyodo News
04-07-2025
- Kyodo News
FOCUS: Manga quake "prophecies" keeping H.K. travelers away from Japan
HONG KONG - Kyoto-based academic German Cheung adopted a "better safe than sorry" approach to the prospect of an earthquake in Japan in early July, despite having traveled to his hometown in Hong Kong just two months earlier. For his escape, the 47-year-old associate professor of international relations spent 35,000 yen ($243) on a return ticket to Hong Kong departing Friday, one day before a seismic calamity was predicted to occur. He plans to return to Japan next week. Since January, soothsayers in Hong Kong have talked up potential natural disasters in Japan, with the feng shui practitioners -- who generally trade in recommendations about personal arrangements and physical directions of belongings -- advising residents to steer clear of the country. The fortune-tellers referenced a Japanese graphic novel "The Future I Saw" in which artist Ryo Tatsuki predicted a "major calamity" in March 2011, coinciding with a catastrophic quake-tsunami that struck Japan's northeast and led to the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster. In 2021, Tatsuki updated her work and made another prediction, this time for a cataclysmic earthquake she said would hit Japan in July 2025. The press and social media caught on, creating a perfect storm of concern. The speculation has caused anxiety among Hong Kong travelers, with the number visiting Japan in May declining 11.2 percent from the previous year to 193,100. The former British colony, which ranked as the fourth-largest source of Japan-bound tourists in 2024, was the only market to record a fall in May, according to the Japan National Tourism Organization. Cheung, who puts faith in feng shui-based prophecies, said it is easier to "just avoid July" in Japan, at least "from a Hongkonger's perspective." Among the first to suffer a blow were travel agencies and airlines. WWPKG, a holiday operator based in Hong Kong, saw Japan tour bookings halve in April and expects a further decline of up to 80 percent between June and August compared to the same period last year. At least two Hong Kong-based airlines have reduced or decided to suspend flights to destinations in Japan, including Fukuoka, Sendai, Nagoya, Tokushima, Sapporo, Yonago, Kagoshima and Kumamoto. "This is a result of a long-term accumulation of negative news," said Yuen Chun-ning, managing director of WWPKG, which specializes in tours to Japan. The manga itself, as well as feng shui practitioners and social media influencers who brought the message forward across Hong Kong, "all have played a role," he added. Situated on the Pacific Ring of Fire, Japan is accustomed to the Earth's seismic wrath. But an unprecedented alert issued by the Japan Meteorological Agency last August, warning about the increased risk of a massive quake around the Nankai Trough stretching from central to southwestern Japan along the Pacific coast, hit a nerve. Manga artist Tatsuki, who cited a prophetic dream in "The Future I Saw," suggested a fissure could appear in the seabed between Japan and the Philippines on July 5, with tsunamis extending as far as Indonesia and the Northern Mariana Islands in the northwestern Pacific. The author has been credited with foreseeing the magnitude-9.0 quake that rocked northeastern Japan's Tohoku region on March 11, 2011. The online panic about Tatsuki's next prediction was propagated by feng shui practitioners and psychics, with some advising that people should avoid areas located northeast of Hong Kong this year, such as Japan and South Korea. Qi Xianyu, a popular feng shui master and television personality in Hong Kong, urged people not to travel to Japan after April, with such recommendations from her and others causing an economic ripple effect across the tourism industry. But Qi refuses to take any blame for flight cancellations and the fall in travel bookings, saying, "Actually, it's really unfair." "There are also many who don't believe in me. If something gets better, I don't get credit, but now that things go wrong, you think it's my fault," she complained. Japanese meteorological authorities have dismissed the rumor-mongering as unscientific, while seismologists have cautioned that accurately forecasting the timing of an earthquake remains virtually impossible. Tatsuki recently revised her words and said big things "may not necessarily happen" on Saturday. But the damage has been done, with WWPKG's Yuen pessimistic about a possible rebound in Japan-bound tourism after July 5. "Out of concern, some customers said outright they won't go to Japan this year," Yuen said. "The bigger and more news reports out there, the slower the recovery will be."
Daily Mirror
03-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mirror
'Japan's Baba Vanga's' terrifying prediction comes true after 'disaster' warning
Ryo Tatsuki, who has earned a reputation as 'Japan's Baba Vanga', has apparently seen one of her most chilling predictions come true today, while tourists have been left too spooked to book flights A psychic hailed as 'Japan's Baba Vanga' has seen another of her predictions come true - and believers have been left scared enough to change their travel plans. Manga comic book artist Ryo Tatsuki has drawn comparisons with the famed Bulgarian mystic on account of her eerily prescient premonitions, detailed in her 1999 book, The Future as I Saw. This creepy tome details a number of Ryo's dreams, some of which have purportedly come to pass. It garnered particular interest after the devastating 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, which Ryo appeared to anticipate, with her prior warning of a major natural disaster set to unfold in March 2011. Naturally spooked, followers of Ryo's work have also been fearful of another date which is fast approaching - July 5, 2025. And there are those who believe her chilling vision has already come true, partly at least. Foretelling a calamitous disaster in an updated version of her book, published four years ago, Ryo wrote: "The ocean floor between Japan and the Philippines will crack. Huge waves will rise in all directions. Tsunamis will devastate the Pacific Rim countries. "A tsunami three times higher than that of the Great East Japan Earthquake of March 2011 will strike the southwest of the country." It has been noted that part of Ryo's prediction has already come true, two days early, with a 5.5-magnitude earthquake rocking Japan today. As reported by the AFP News Agency, authorities have urged 89 residents of the small southern island of Akuseki to evacuate "to a school playground" after a quake powerful enough to make it "difficult to remain standing". Thankfully, Japan's Meteorological Agency has advised that a tsunami warning has not been put in place. Ayataka Ebita, director of the earthquake and tsunami observation division of the agency, told reporters: 'In areas where the tremors were strong, there is an increased risk of collapsed houses and landslides. Please be aware of earthquakes of similar magnitude for the foreseeable future." Although disruptive, today's incident is nowhere near in the same league as the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, which resulted in thousands of deaths and widespread destruction. Whether it comes to pass or not, Ryo's premonition has had real-world knock-on effects for the tourism sector. CN Yuen, managing director of Hong Kong-based travel agency WWPKG, informed CNN that bookings to Japan had halved over the Easter holidays, with further dips expected over the coming two months. It's believed anxious travellers, all too aware of Ryo's frightening reputation for accuracy, may have been spooked by this particular prediction and thought twice about any trips to Japan. Meanwhile, Eric Zhu, Bloomberg Intelligence's analyst for aviation and defence, revealed: "The quake speculations are definitely having a negative impact on Japan tourism, and it will slow the boom temporarily. Travellers are taking a risk-averse approach given the plethora of other short-haul options in the region.' With this in mind, however, Ryo has previously cautioned people to remember that she is "not a prophet", reminding them to put their faith in experts, not just dreams.
The Mainichi
03-07-2025
- The Mainichi
Manga quake 'prophecies' keeping HK travelers away from Japan
HONG KONG (Kyodo) -- Kyoto-based academic German Cheung adopted a "better safe than sorry" approach to the prospect of an earthquake in Japan in early July, despite having traveled to his hometown in Hong Kong just two months earlier. For his escape, the 47-year-old associate professor of international relations spent 35,000 yen ($243) on a return ticket to Hong Kong departing Friday, one day before a seismic calamity was predicted to occur. He plans to return to Japan next week. Since January, soothsayers in Hong Kong have talked up potential natural disasters in Japan, with the feng shui practitioners -- who generally trade in recommendations about personal arrangements and physical directions of belongings -- advising residents to steer clear of the country. The fortune-tellers referenced a Japanese graphic novel "The Future I Saw" in which artist Ryo Tatsuki predicted a "major calamity" in March 2011, coinciding with a catastrophic quake-tsunami that struck Japan's northeast and led to the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster. In 2021, Tatsuki updated her work and made another prediction, this time for a cataclysmic earthquake she said would hit Japan in July 2025. The press and social media caught on, creating a perfect storm of concern. The speculation has caused anxiety among Hong Kong travelers, with the number visiting Japan in May declining 11.2 percent from the previous year to 193,100. The former British colony, which ranked as the fourth-largest source of Japan-bound tourists in 2024, was the only market to record a fall in May, according to the Japan National Tourism Organization. Cheung, who puts faith in feng shui-based prophecies, said it is easier to "just avoid July" in Japan, at least "from a Hongkonger's perspective." Among the first to suffer a blow were travel agencies and airlines. WWPKG, a holiday operator based in Hong Kong, saw Japan tour bookings halve in April and expects a further decline of up to 80 percent between June and August compared to the same period last year. At least two Hong Kong-based airlines have reduced or decided to suspend flights to destinations in Japan, including Fukuoka, Sendai, Nagoya, Tokushima, Sapporo, Yonago, Kagoshima and Kumamoto. "This is a result of a long-term accumulation of negative news," said Yuen Chun-ning, managing director of WWPKG, which specializes in tours to Japan. The manga itself, as well as feng shui practitioners and social media influencers who brought the message forward across Hong Kong, "all have played a role," he added. Situated on the Pacific Ring of Fire, Japan is accustomed to the Earth's seismic wrath. But an unprecedented alert issued by the Japan Meteorological Agency last August, warning about the increased risk of a massive quake around the Nankai Trough stretching from central to southwestern Japan along the Pacific coast, hit a nerve. Manga artist Tatsuki, who cited a prophetic dream in "The Future I Saw," suggested a fissure could appear in the seabed between Japan and the Philippines on July 5, with tsunamis extending as far as Indonesia and the Northern Mariana Islands in the northwestern Pacific. The author has been credited with foreseeing the magnitude-9.0 quake that rocked northeastern Japan's Tohoku region on March 11, 2011. The online panic about Tatsuki's next prediction was propagated by feng shui practitioners and psychics, with some advising that people should avoid areas located northeast of Hong Kong this year, such as Japan and South Korea. Qi Xianyu, a popular feng shui master and television personality in Hong Kong, urged people not to travel to Japan after April, with such recommendations from her and others causing an economic ripple effect across the tourism industry. But Qi refuses to take any blame for flight cancellations and the fall in travel bookings, saying, "Actually, it's really unfair." "There are also many who don't believe in me. If something gets better, I don't get credit, but now that things go wrong, you think it's my fault," she complained. Japanese meteorological authorities have dismissed the rumor-mongering as unscientific, while seismologists have cautioned that accurately forecasting the timing of an earthquake remains virtually impossible. Tatsuki recently revised her words and said big things "may not necessarily happen" on Saturday. But the damage has been done, with WWPKG's Yuen pessimistic about a possible rebound in Japan-bound tourism after July 5. "Out of concern, some customers said outright they won't go to Japan this year," Yuen said. "The bigger and more news reports out there, the slower the recovery will be." (By Ezra Cheung)
