The earthquake that occurred on Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula has reignited discussions about the works of a Japanese manga artist known for his prophecies.
On Wednesday morning, Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula was shaken by a powerful earthquake measuring 8.8 on the Richter scale. The tsunami waves triggered by the earthquake affected Japan’s northern Hokkaido Island and Russia’s Kuril Islands. This devastating event has brought renewed attention to a “prophecy” featured in a comic published in 1999 by Japanese manga artist Ryo Tatsuki.
In Tatsuki’s manga titled “The Future I Saw,” drawings suggested that a major disaster would occur in southern Japan on July 5, 2025. Although the expected disaster did not happen on that exact date, after the Kamchatka earthquake and tsunami occurred 25 days later, many people began to think that the “prophecy” referred not to a specific day but to the entire month of July.
While many posts comparing the events to the prophecy have circulated on social media, a user on X (formerly Twitter) wrote, “Even if the date is not exact, respect should be given to Ryo Tatsuki.”
The topic resurfaced in Japanese social media with the hashtag #July5Disaster, and it was reported that flight reservations from Hong Kong to Japan dropped by 83% at the end of June and beginning of July.
However, experts approach such claims with caution. Professor Sekiya Naoya from the University of Tokyo emphasized that such predictions are not scientific and that it is impossible to forecast exactly when earthquakes will occur. Japanese official authorities have previously warned the public not to believe in such “prophecies.”
Although it has been claimed that Ryo Tatsuki predicted some disasters like the 2011 Tohoku earthquake in advance, experts note that these kinds of forecasts are usually vague and open to interpretation, resembling those of other “seers” such as Baba Vanga.
According to a report by CNN International, the manga “The Future I Saw,” published by Ryo Tatsuki in 1999, also contained a warning of a large-scale disaster for March 2011. Indeed, on March 11, 2011, a 9.0-magnitude earthquake struck the Tohoku region, followed by a devastating tsunami that hit Japan.
The “full version” of the work published in 2021 claimed that the next big earthquake would happen in July of this year.
Tatsuki’s mangas have many followers and fans, especially in Eastern countries. His fans believe that Tatsuki can see future events in his dreams. The accuracy of his 2011 prediction made him famous not only in Japan but also in other regional countries such as Thailand and China. According to his publisher, the book sold 900,000 copies and was also published in Chinese.
Fans claim that the artist predicted not only earthquakes but also the deaths of Princess Diana and Freddie Mercury and the COVID-19 pandemic.
