Danica Davidson
July 8, 2025 
A once-obscure manga called Watashi ga Mita Mirai (translated as The Future I Saw) by Ryo Tatsuki allegedly predicted the earthquake/tsunami disaster in March 2011 because Tatsuki claims to have psychic dreams and her manga predicted “A Big Disaster on March 2011.” Following this, she released Watashi ga Mita Mirai Kanzenban (translated as The Future I Saw: The Complete Edition) and predicted a devastating earthquake would happen to Japan on July 5, 2025.
While many people, especially scientists and Japanese officials, scoffed at the so-called prophecy, word on it spread online and Japan actually saw a drop in tourism. For instance, flights from Hong Kong to Japan dropped 83% in late June/early July, and it can be traced back to earthquake fears. For an idea of how far this so-called prophecy spread, there are more than 1,400 YouTube videos about it, and those videos have been seen more than 100 million times.
So few Chinese tourists have been coming to Japan that they don’t even have Chinese signs out at Mount Fuji for climbers. Instead, they have signs in English. There’s also been a drop of tourists from South Korea and Taiwan. So, yes, fears over the prediction have actually made a dent in Japan’s tourism, with more than just a few people spooked about traveling there.
The unusual nature of the story, which Otaku USA covered early on here, led to widespread news articles in the West, including from CNN, Reuters, The Guardian, Time, Newsweek, and more.
Annnnd . . . July 5, 2025 is now in the past, and there was no massive earthquake. Okatani Hiroki of the Japanese news outlet NHK was one of many people to call out how the false rumor of the earthquake was spread, saying, “Earthquakes have been happening one after another in Kagoshima Prefecture, but experts say they have nothing to do with the rumors. And this may sound obvious, but they also say we should not spread false information. Some people take rumors as the truth. This causes unnecessary panic and stress.”
The Japan Meteorological Agency’s Ryoichi Nomura had also remarked ahead of July 5, “There is no need to worry at all about such predictions, as they are considered to be hoaxes.”
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Danica Davidson is the author of the bestselling Manga Art for Beginners with artist Melanie Westin, plus its sequel, Manga Art for Everyone, and the first-of-its-kind manga chalk book Chalk Art Manga, both illustrated by professional Japanese mangaka Rena Saiya. Check out her other comics and books at www.danicadavidson.com.
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