A 70-year-old manga artist’s prediction about a devastating tsunami in Japan on July 5 has sent the internet into a tizzy, with several tourists cancelling their tickets to the country in the wake of the prophecy.

Manga fans claim that most of the predictions that Ryo Tatsuki makes in her comic book — inspired by her dreams — come true.

If fans are to be believed, Tatsuki predicted the 2011 Tōhoku tsunami, the deaths of icons like Freddie Mercury and Princess Diana, and even the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic — all in her manga titled The Future I Saw.

Sparking mass hysteria across the world, the premonition about July 5 from the pages of the revised edition of The Future I Saw claims, “the ocean floor between Japan and the Philippines will crack.”

A massive tsunami, three times higher than that of the Great East Japan Earthquake of March 2011, will strike the southwest of Japan, the manga further states.

Tatsuki’s cult classic manga The Future I Saw, which was first published on July 1, 1999, is a collection of her dreams and diary entries compiled into a graphic format.

The Future I Saw didn’t gain popularity until 2011 after the massive Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, when people discovered that the cover of the book had foreseen a disaster occurring in March that year. The large-scale catastrophe had claimed over 18,000 lives, especially due to the Fukushima nuclear blast.

However, the author remained unknown since original copies of the manga were expensive and not available easily.

She shot to fame in 2021 after publishing company Asuka Shinsha published a reprint edition titled The Future I Saw: Complete Edition. It sold over 5,00,000 copies in Japan, and cemented Tatsuki’s name as a clairvoyant who predicted the future in her comics.

The manga writer has also recorded dreams dating back to the 1990s, some of which eerily matched real-world events — like Freddie Mercury’s sudden death in 1991, Princess Diana’s tragic death in 1997, and the 1995 Kobe earthquake.

Tatsuki’s accuracy in her premonitions has earned her the title ‘Japanese Baba Vanga’, a nod to the late Bulgarian mystic known for predicting major world events, including the 9/11 attacks, the rise of ISIS, and the election of Barack Obama.

Thousands of Taiwanese, Chinese and South Korean tourists have been cancelling their summer trips, causing a dip in Japan tourism due to Tatsuki’s vision for July 5 which first surfaced online back in May.

Social media users stand divided, with some believing in the prophecies and others choosing to refute them.

“I don't want to look paranoid but my gut is telling me something will happen on July 5th, I mean Ryo Tatsuki has already predicted the Kobe and 2011 Japan earthquakes. I wouldn't be surprised if she got this one right,” shared an X user.

“It is predicted that the day after tomorrow, July 5, 2025, Japan, where I live, will be destroyed by an earthquake or other terrible event. My life was short, but my life was very good. Thank u to everyone outside of Japan,” a user on X posted.

A netizen, however, discarded the premonitions completely. “I do not believe it. There will be no catastrophe in Japan on July 5, 2025,” they tweeted.

Another user on X echoed a similar voice, saying, “I’m honestly still shocked that, even in 2025, so many people continue to believe in conspiracy theories.”

As the world watches Japan in July, scientists have found that the Nankai Trough, a subduction zone where the Philippine Sea Plate is pushed beneath Japan, is experiencing slow-slip earthquakes. However, the Japan Meteorological Agency has said that the predictions should be considered unreliable.

A 5.5 magnitude earthquake hit Kagoshima Prefecture at 4.13pm JST on July 3. It had an intensity of less than 6 on the Japanese scale of 0 to 7. However, the Japan Meteorological Agency said that there was no occurrence of a tsunami.