Anxiety is rising globally as July 5, 2025, approaches—thanks not to official warnings, but to a prophetic manga. Watashi ga Mita Mirai (“The Future I Saw”), by reclusive Japanese artist Ryo Tatsuki, predicted a massive tsunami between Japan and the Philippines on this very date. The manga gained cult status after eerily anticipating the March 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami more than a decade earlier.
In a revised 2021 edition of her manga, Tatsuki describes a catastrophic underwater eruption in the Philippine Sea on July 5, 2025, unleashing a tsunami “three times the height” of the 2011 waves. A panel from the comic, now dubbed the “Doomsday Drawing,” has gone viral, prompting online speculation and global fear.
Tourism in Japan is already seeing a sharp decline. Reports of booking cancellations in Tokyo and Okinawa are widespread, with frightened tourists asking for refunds citing “omen fear.” Hong Kong’s Greater Bay Airlines cancelled flights to Japan, saying demand has “rapidly decreased.” Visitor numbers from Hong Kong dropped 11 per cent in May, despite a record-breaking 3.9 million tourists in April.
Despite a lack of scientific support, the panic sparked by a comic book has become a real-world issue, affecting travel, tourism, and public sentiment. The situation underscores how fiction can trigger very real consequences, especially when past “predictions” appear to have come true. As July 5 nears, the world remains on edge, watching, wondering, and worrying.
AloJapan.com