Holiday bookings to Japan from key Asian markets have plunged ahead of the busy summer season. The cause: Rumors of an impending earthquake prophesied in a manga graphic novel.
Social media and viral posts have unsettled travelers and renewed attention to manga artist Ryo Tatsuki’s prediction of a huge earthquake that would inundate Japan with tsunami waves. Tatsuki, whom some claim predicted Japan’s 2011 earthquake, gives July 2025 as the date of the impending event in a graphic novel that was first published back in 1999.
The manga was republished in 2021 with additional content and the quake speculation has gotten new life on social media recently, with YouTube videos and Facebook posts that warn people of traveling to Japan attracting millions of views.
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