An obscure manga titled "The Future I Saw" (Watashi ga Mita Mirai) by Ryo Tatsuki has recently captured widespread attention in Japan and internationally. The story, which predicts a catastrophic natural disaster striking Japan in July 2025, has triggered social media frenzies and reportedly influenced some travelers to cancel summer trips. Why are people taking Tatsuki's fictional prophecy seriously? And how did an upcoming horror film become entangled in this growing speculation?
Originally published in 1999, Tatsuki's semi-autobiographical manga chronicles visions from her dream journals kept since 1985. The cover art depicts the author-character shielding one eye while postcards above her head display ominous premonitions - including one accurately foreseeing "March 2011: A Great Disaster," matching the catastrophic Tohoku earthquake and tsunami. This eerie coincidence propelled the out-of-print manga to cult status, with rare copies fetching premium prices online.
The 2021 "Complete Edition" introduced a new prophecy: a July 2025 tsunami three times larger than 2011's devastation. Given the previous prediction's accidental accuracy, this warning spread rapidly across Japanese social platforms. Media reports suggest the speculation has particularly affected travel plans from Hong Kong, where translated versions circulate widely. Notably, Hong Kong Airlines canceled Sendai routes while Greater Bay Airlines reduced flights to several Japanese cities, though officials attribute this more to economic factors than disaster fears.
The renewed spotlight propelled manga sales past 1 million copies in May, coinciding with promotional efforts for the horror film "July 5 2025, 4:18 AM" - which creatively incorporates Tatsuki's prophecy as narrative inspiration. Misinformation conflating the movie's fictional date with Tatsuki's vague prediction prompted publisher Asuka Shinsha to clarify: "The author never specified exact disaster timings shown in the film."
While Tatsuki's predictions lack scientific basis, they tap into legitimate seismic concerns. Experts estimate 70-80% probability of a catastrophic Nankai Trough earthquake within 30 years, potentially claiming 300,000 lives. Japan's Meteorological Agency dismisses precise earthquake forecasting as impossible, yet the convergence of Tatsuki's storytelling with genuine geological risks has fueled anxiety.
Critics on social media question the media frenzy: "Believing manga prophecies is absurd - the next big quake could strike anytime," remarked one X user. Tatsuki herself has urged calm, stating while she welcomes increased disaster awareness, people should "trust expert analyses over creative fiction" (Mainichi Shimbun).
