Since the birth of mankind, we've been obsessed with looking to the future. Whether that be inventing to try and better our lives, or simply trying to predict what comes next, there's a big market for those who can supposedly see the future. While the likes of Baba Vanga and Nostradamus are long dead, a new crop of modern counterparts is here to take their place.
It's not just The Simpsons that have a knack for predicting the future, with so-called 'new' Baba Vangas and Nostradamuses popping up everywhere.
We've previously covered Living Nostradamus Athos Salomé and his supposed powers of soothsaying, while even AI can be used to recreate the abilities of these mystics.
Now, a so-called Japanese Baba Vanga is coming to the forefront, with Ryo Tatsuki's worrying predictions for July 2025 getting tongues wagging, and some even talking about canceling their summer trip to Japan.
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Although now retired and aged 70, Tatsuki is known for her prophetic visions that she's turned into artwork. She's been documenting them since the '80s, and in 1999, published a manga novel called The Future I Saw. While there are always skeptics, she's been credited with predicting everything from Freddie Mercury's death to the Great Hanshin earthquake, the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami to the COVID-19 pandemic. So, when Tatsuki has a prophecy, people tend to listen up.
The clock is ticking on her supposed prediction that a mega tsunami will be hitting the Northern Mariana Islands, Indonesia, Taiwan, and Japan in July 2025. This 'catastrophic' event is said to be three times more devastating than the 2011 tsunami, with her supporters calling for the government to take action now.
If that wasn't bad enough, Tatsuki has an equally grave vision for what's coming to Japan in 2026.
In a 2021 interview with Japan Today, Tatsuki warned of megathrust earthquake along the Nankai Trough.
Tatsuki's manager explained: "Tatsuki-san says that her prophesies follow a 15-year cycle. She foresaw the 2011 disaster in Tohoku, in March 1996. But should something she predicts not occur, then an additional 15 years should be added, so the next time for it to occur would be 30 years from now, or 45 years, and so on."
Saying that a major eruption of Mt Fuji that she predicted in 2006 didn't happen, it could've happened on August 20, 2021. That thankfully didn't happen, but should we be looking out for August 20, 2036?
As for the Nankai Trough earthquake, her manager continued: "Likewise for the Nankai Trough earthquake. As it came to Tatsuki in a dream in the summer of 1981, the next probability of it occurring will be 45 years later, between June through September of 2026."
Although Tatsuki rarely gives interviews, she spoke out about the potential Nankai Trough earthquake and admitted: "In the case of the Nankai earthquake, I was also washed away by a tsunami. As shown in my illustrations, extensive parts of Kanagawa Prefecture are inundated, including the area around Aokibashi in the Kinko-cho area of Yokohama's Kanagawa Ward."
In that same interview, she vowed to move out of the Kanagawa Prefecture before June 2026.
This isn't the first we've heard about the Nankai Trough troubles, and when news of her tsunami prediction started to spread, seismologists reiterated that even though there is "no scientific basis for Tatsuki's claims," it's true that "the location she describes isn't far-fetched from a geological standpoint."
Whether you're a believer or not, summer 2026 might be a time to avoid the Kanagawa Prefecture.