As July 2025 approaches, Japan’s tourism sector is facing an unanticipated and bizarre crisis-one that stems from a decades-old manga rather than a natural disaster.
A terrifying prophecy in ‘Watashi ga Mita Mirai’ (The Future I Saw), a graphic novel originally published in 1999 by the elusive Japanese artist Ryo Tatsuki, has been attributed to a sharp drop in vacation reservations to Japan, particularly from Hong Kong and mainland China. Due to its purported prediction of a major disaster on July 5, 2025, this obscure manga has gone viral on social media in recent months, leading thousands of people to rethink or cancel their plans to visit Japan.
Online fear has been stoked by the manga’s disturbing assertion that there is “a crack opening up under the seabed between Japan and the Philippines” and that the waves are “three times as tall” as those from the 2011 tsunami. The prediction recalls memories of the terrible earthquake that struck Fukushima in March 2011 and the ensuing nuclear accident, which the manga ominously foreshadowed years before it happened. Even though experts caution that such predictions are not supported by science, this coincidence has given Tatsuki’s work an unsettling sense of legitimacy.
According to Mathrubhumi English, data collected by Bloomberg Intelligence and ForwardKeys indicates that reservations from Hong Kong to Japan have dropped by 50% year-on-year. The substantial impact of this social media-fueled hysteria is demonstrated by the 83% decline in bookings between late June and early July.
Bookings for Japan have been cut in half for Hong Kong-based travel company EGL Tours. Director Steve Huen told Travel and Tour World that the company hasn’t been able to prevent the cancellation wave, even with discounts and even earthquake insurance. Hong Kong is not the only place experiencing this frenzy. Rumours have spread as far as Thailand and Vietnam, where posts and videos warning against visiting Japan this week are all over social media. Hong Kong and mainland China, Japan’s second and fourth-largest tourist markets, have been especially alarmed, according to CNN.
Experts and seismologists have been quick to refute the idea of prophetic accuracy, despite the fact that the speculation is widespread. Professor of seismology Robert Geller of the University of Tokyo told Travel and Tour World that “even scientifically-based earthquake prediction is impossible,” pointing to decades of research that has yielded no reliable predictions.
In an attempt to calm the growing panic, Tatsuki herself has come forward. She made it clear in an interview with Mainichi Shimbun that she is not a prophet and that she never meant for her writings to be interpreted literally. She claimed that her intention was to promote readiness and awareness rather than fear. In an interview with The Guardian, she restated this idea and counselled readers to trust professional judgement and scientific advice.
Japan, which is situated along the unstable Pacific ‘Ring of Fire’, is hit by thousands of earthquakes annually, the majority of which are minor. However, even though the majority of the quakes were negligible, Travel and Tour World reports that over 900 tremors have been recorded in recent days near Kyushu, Japan’s southernmost island, adding fuel to the speculative fire. Travel communities are still plagued by fear despite Tatsuki’s warnings and the scientists’ assurances.
In the era of social media, the panic surrounding ‘The Future I Saw’ is a perfect illustration of how deeply fiction can meld into what is perceived as reality. Although there is no solid proof of an impending catastrophe, the manga’s uncanny parallels to historical occurrences, heightened by online rumours, have caused very real economic consequences.
However, experts think that despite being temporarily shaken, Japan’s tourism industry will recover. According to Travel and Tour World, the nation is still a popular travel destination for millions of people, and after the viral dust settles, the lure of the country will probably outweigh the fear. Until then, July 5th is just another day on the calendar, but one that is tainted by a particularly significant chapter in manga history.
AloJapan.com