There's been chaos in the skies above Japan, with airlines apparently being forced to cancel flights due to some concerning predictions that date back decades.
The world is obsessed with the likes of Baba Vanga and Nostradamus, and while they've been dead for years, newcomers like Living Nostradamus Athos Salomé and the so-called 'Japanese Baba Vanga’ have taken their place.
Ryo Tatsuki has been making predictions since the 1980s, publishing them in a 1999 manga novel called Watashi ga Mita Mirai (The Future I Saw). Collecting 15 prophetic dreams, Tatsuki has been credited with predicting the likes of Freddie Mercury's death and the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, Princess Diana's tragic demise, and the COVID-19 pandemic.
Considering she's seemingly been right on so many things, the fact that she supposedly pointed to July 5, 2025, as a disastrous one means tourist numbers in Japan have plummeted.
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As reported by Asia News Network, only a 'scattering' of passengers emerged from the international arrivals lobby at Sakaiminato's Yonago Airport after disembarking a flight from Hong Kong in late May. One female passenger said: "I wanted to visit Japan before the rumor comes true."
A 2021 complete reprint of The Future I Saw mentions how "the real catastrophe will come in July 2025," which quickly spread across social media amid fears of a massive natural disaster in Japan.
This wasn't helped when the Japanese government raised the 30-year probability of a mega-quake in the Nankai Trough to 'around 80%', while a March damage-projection report is also being blamed for the massive drop-off in flights.
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Back in May, Greater Bay Airlines reduced its Sendai service from four round trips every week to just two, whereas Tokushima flights were downscaled from three to two.
Now, Greater Bay Airlines has indefinitely suspended its service to Tokushima from September.
In April, Miyagi Gov. Yoshihiro Murai dubbed the situation as 'grave' at a press conference "because baseless social-media rumors are hurting tourism."
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The outlet claims that Tokushima Prefecture’s tourism promotion office has been contacted by various Hong Kong travel agencies about cancellations due to security concerns.
Greater Bay Airlines said "reservations are stagnating due to the rumors,” joined by Tottori Gov. Shinji Hirai, admitting: "People are losing the motivation to travel to Japan. The impact is unavoidable."
More recently, Reuters said that Japan's record-breaking celebrations of 3.9 million travelers in April 2025 were cut short by a sharp decline in May. Visits from Hong Kong represented an 11% year-on-year drop. Steve Huen from Hong Kong-based EGL Tours said the rumors and superstitions have played a significant part in this.
Things have gotten so bad, the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) was even forced to speak out, saying that a lack of scientific basis means we shouldn't avoid traveling during this period.
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Tatsuki has been unwillingly pulled into things once again, issuing a statement by her publisher that simply states she's "not a prophet."
Still, it seems many of you are holding off on your travel plans and looking for another time to visit the Land of the Rising Sun.