Japanese manga artist Ryo Tatsuki has reignited public anxiety with her latest prediction of a major catastrophic event set for July 2025.
Despite scientific consensus that earthquakes cannot be accurately forecast, Tatsuki’s past record has accorded her predictions significant mileage in the public eye. Her manga of 1999, “The Future I Saw”, precisely foretold the March 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, lending an air of credibility to her current claims.
A “complete version” of the manga, released in 2021, contains a prediction of a catastrophic quake hitting in July 2025. The renewed publicity has generated alarm, particularly among tourists, some of whom have canceled travel plans to Japan. The dissemination of such prophecies by psychics from Japan and Hong Kong on social media has only added to the panic, though the predictions are not supported by science.
Japan, which sits atop the unstable Ring of Fire, is extremely susceptible to earthquakes. The government in Japan alerted the public this spring to an 80% chance of a large earthquake in the next 30 years in the Nankai Trough. Although these forecasts are made with the purpose of encouraging preparedness, some seismologists contend that they actually generate unwarranted fear when based on speculative models.
