Japan fears viral manga prediction as hundreds of earthquakes rattle Tokara Islands

Japan’s remote Tokara Islands has been shaken by hundreds of earthquakes in the last few days. A dormant volcano Kyushu has also erupted, renewing public anxiety in the predictions made by a manga artist. Ryo Tatsuki, a self-proclaimed clairvoyant had foretold a 2011 disaster and speculated another major calamity striking Japan in early July.

In her comic book The Future I Saw, Tatsuki claims that Japan will witness a massive disaster on July 5, 2025. The book, originally published in 1999 says that cities will sink into the sea and a mega-tsunami, stronger than the one in the 2011 Tohoku earthquake will hit the country.

This seems to have created fear among people as the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) confirmed that more than 330 tremors had been recorded in the area in the past five days.

Though they were not very strong, two of them recorded on Sunday and Tuesday had a magnitude of 5.1 on the Richter scale. These were enough to instill fear among people who saw ceiling fans and hanging lamps swing inside their houses.

Asking people to take precaution, the Japenese meteorological department said, “This region has seen long periods of earthquake activity in the past. Please be careful."

However, officials have asked people to shun fears and speculations and remain calm. The governor of Miyagi, Yoshihiro Murai, said there is no official warning and advised people not to change their plans based on rumours.

Seismologists, too have dismissed any link between the recent activity and the prediction, highlighting that there is no scientific way to predict an earthquake and its magnitude.

Tokara Islands lies between the southern tip of Kyushu and the Okinawa islands, in a seismically active stretch of southwestern Japan, small frequent earthquakes are nothing new for the region.

Since the prediction, Tatsuki has gained immense popularity. His comic book The Future I Saw, has sold over 900,000 copies including printed editions in Chinese, according to the book’s publisher.