A massive 8.8-magnitude earthquake near Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula on 30 July has triggered tsunami warnings for multiple countries, including Japan.
While emergency services respond and evacuation orders are issued across the Pacific Rim, social media is buzzing with a different kind of alert and claims that a decades-old prediction by Japanese manga artist Ryo Tatsuki, often dubbed the 'Japanese Baba Vanga,' has eerily come to pass.
Tatsuki, a self-described dream journaler turned cult manga figure, had warned of a catastrophic tsunami in the summer of 2025. As events unfold, many are asking whether her prophecy, first published in The Future I Saw in 1999, has finally come true.
Who is Ryo Tatsuki, and what did she predict?
Ryo Tatsuki, a 70-year-old Japanese manga artist, rose to niche fame in the early 2000s after publishing The Future I Saw, a manga based on vivid dreams she recorded starting in the 1980s.
@olichan1111 I wonder what she thinks of all this ? Will people start taking her predictions more seriously now?? 😱😳 . . . . . #tatsukiryo #prophet #japanesebabavanga #babavanga #predictions #japan #tsunami #earthquake #russia #russiaearthquake #japantsunami #july #2025 #japanjuly2025 #tsunamiadvisory #tsunamiwarning #japantravel #naturaldisaster #japanlife #japanliving #lifeinjapan #foreignerinjapan #fyp #おすすめ#津波#ryotatsuki ♬ original sound - olivia
In it, she wrote of 'the ocean floor between Japan and the Philippines cracking' and a tsunami 'three times higher than that of the Great East Japan Earthquake of March 2011' devastating southwest Japan.
Tatsuki's prediction didn't name a year but referred to events occurring in 'mid-summer.' Many point to the alignment of her descriptions with this week's seismic activity.
Notably, she previously claimed to foresee the 1995 Kobe earthquake, the 2011 Tohoku tsunami, and even a global pandemic in 2020. Her prediction about the virus, shared years ago in her manga, stated, 'In 25 years, an unknown virus will come in 2020... and appear again 10 years later.'
Such forecasts have led some to view her as Japan's equivalent of Baba Vanga, the late Bulgarian mystic known for her prophecies, although Tatsuki herself does not claim psychic abilities.
Response underway as threat level fluctuates
The earthquake, considered one of the most powerful in modern history, has prompted officials across Japan, Russia, Hawaii, and parts of North and South America to issue immediate evacuation alerts. The US Tsunami Warning System noted the likelihood of 'hazardous tsunami waves' reaching various Pacific coastlines.
Fortunately, by late evening on 30 July, tsunami warnings were downgraded in several regions, and no casualties had been reported at the time of writing. But scientists are urging continued caution.
'Tsunamis are not a single wave event,' said Dave Snider, tsunami warning coordinator at the National Tsunami Warning Centre in Alaska. 'They're a series of waves that can continue for hours, and some can be more destructive than the first.'
Public fear and tourism fallout
Tourism in Japan has already been impacted. Earlier this month, ahead of the now-unfolding events, international bookings to Japan and East Asia dropped sharply, with reports suggesting an 83% decline from Hong Kong alone. Hence, Tatsuki's reputation has clearly had an effect.
Earlier, Yoshihiro Murai, Governor of Miyagi Prefecture, pushed back against the spread of unverified rumours. 'It would be a major problem if the spread of unscientific rumours on social media affected tourism,' he told local media. 'There is no reason to worry because the Japanese are not fleeing abroad... I hope people will ignore the rumours and visit.'
Still, with millions told to evacuate and rescue systems on high alert, the psychological impact of these warnings, predicted or not, is real.
However, it's also important to note that Japan is no stranger to seismic activity. Sitting on the Pacific 'Ring of Fire,' the country experiences multiple earthquakes a year, many of which are too minor to notice. But when large events strike, they often do so with devastating consequences.
For now, the authorities are monitoring the aftereffects of this quake very closely and are urging
residents and tourists to stay informed through official channels, not online speculation.
Furthermore, whether Ryo Tatsuki's prediction was a rare coincidence or something more remains a matter of personal belief.
