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Miami Herald
08-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Miami Herald
Earthquake swarms are fueling fear of the ‘big one' in Japan
More than 1,300 earthquakes have hit Japan's Tokara Islands in two weeks, prompting evacuations of dozens of residents from the remote archipelago on the country's southern tip. Although no major damage has been reported and no tsunami warnings have been issued, the Japan Meteorological Agency has cautioned that tremors as strong as a "lower 6" on Japan's seven-stage seismic intensity scale - such as one that occurred Thursday - may continue. Lower 6 indicates an intensity that may make it difficult for people to stand without holding on to stable support. "The seismic activity remains dynamic," JMA official Ayataka Ebita said at a news conference Sunday - and that has fueled fears of a megaquake. The temblors have coincided with viral panic stemming from the 2021 reprint of a comic book that many are now interpreting as a clairvoyant prediction of a major earthquake. "The real disaster will come in July 2025," read the cover of manga artist Ryo Tatsuki's "The Future that I Saw." The graphic novel, which explores Tatsuki's dreams, also features a panel that says "the ocean floor between Japan and the Philippines will crack." In recent months, that prediction has become the subject of intense online speculation. It has even spread to nearby countries like Hong Kong, where it has been blamed for a recent dip in tourism to Japan. Last month, Hong Kong Airlines suspended all flights to the southern Japanese prefectures of Kagoshima and Kumamoto, citing low demand. In South Korea, earthquake panic has been cited as a reason for the cheapness of flights to Japan compared with last year, although industry experts have said that there are other factors at play: increased competition between airlines and a stronger yen that reduces the buying power of South Korean tourists. On Saturday, South Korean singer Taemin of the band SHINee, who was in Japan for a concert, referenced Tatsuki's prediction in a livestream, assuring fans he was safe and jokingly saying an earthquake might make his performance "look cool." But faced with backlash for making light of a natural disaster, he later issued an apology in Japanese and Korean. There is a reason why a comic book's scientifically baseless prediction is currently gaining so much traction: Tatsuki was (sort of) right before. The first edition of the graphic novel, published in 1999, referenced a "massive disaster" in March 2011 and contained lines like: "I dreamed of a great disaster. The waters of the Pacific Ocean south of the Japanese archipelago will rise." That prediction seemed to come true with the massive 2011 Tohoku earthquake, which killed over 19,000 people and triggered the tsunami that led to the Fukushima nuclear disaster. At an estimated $360 billion incurred in economic damages, the earthquake remains one of the costliest natural disasters in history. It registered 9.0 on the Richter scale, which measures the magnitude of the earthquake. Shindo, Japan's seismic intensity scale, measures intensity at a specific location. The coincidence catapulted Tatsuki to fame and made her manga a bestseller. But in recent weeks, Tatsuki has tried to quell the panic over her latest prediction, saying in a statement issued through her publisher that she was "not a prophet." "I believe that everyone should be free to make their own interpretation," she told Japan's Mainichi newspaper in May. "However, I think it is important to not get overly swept up in the process and to act appropriately in consideration of expert opinion." Japanese government officials and scientists have taken pains to debunk the theories, stressing that it is scientifically impossible to predict earthquakes with such accuracy. "It is absolutely a coincidence. There is no causal connection," said Ebita of the JMA on Saturday. "In Japan, earthquakes can happen at any time. Please be prepared, always." ::: Japan is one of the most earthquake-prone countries in the world, given its location within the Pacific Ring of Fire, a 25,000-mile-long belt of seismic and volcanic hot spots that loops around the perimeter of the Pacific Ocean, including the U.S. West Coast. The country experiences about 1,500 earthquakes a year, or nearly a fifth of the world's total, and earthquake evacuation drills are regularly practiced by government agencies and public schools. On New Year's Day last year, a magnitude 7.5 earthquake in Noto Peninsula in central Japan led to over 500 deaths and destroyed or damaged at least 37,000 homes. Because they sit astride two overlapping tectonic plates, the Tokara Islands have long been prone to seismic activity such as "earthquake swarms," a burst of relatively minor earthquakes occurring in quick succession that can last up to several months. (Southern California is another common site of earthquake swarms, though many are so minor they are barely perceived.) The archipelago spans 12 individual islands - just seven of which are inhabited by a combined 660 or so residents - and the current swarm of quakes there is the most substantial since 1995. Two recent swarms that occurred in 2021 and 2023 exceeded just over 300 quakes each. Although it's unclear why the current swarm is so much greater than those instances, Takuya Nishimura, an earthquake expert at Kyoto University's Disaster Prevention Research Institute, says it may be a result of volcanic activity. "I suspect the subsurface movement of magma caused severe earthquake activity," he said. "Several past studies show submarine volcanoes around the swarm region, which suggests the existence of magma under the ground." Despite the current viral attention around the Tokara swarm, experts like Nishimura are more concerned with another, far more credible earthquake forecast that has loomed over the country for years. Earlier this year, a government panel estimated that there is an 80% chance of a magnitude 8 to 9 megaquake on the Richter scale occurring along Japan's Nankai Trough in the next 30 years. A 559-mile long fault line located off Japan's Pacific coast characterized by its subduction, in which one tectonic plate is forced under another, the Nankai Trough has produced devastating earthquakes every 90 to 200 years. The last one occurred in 1946. Under the government's worst-case scenario, the next Nankai megathrust earthquake is projected to kill about 300,000 people - most of them likely to perish in the tsunamis reaching as high as 100 feet - and cause up to $1.8 trillion in damage. By comparison, the death toll for the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake and the 1994 Northridge earthquake - the two biggest seismic events in recent California history - was 63 and 57. In the meantime, experts are studying the southernmost tip of the San Andreas fault, which hasn't had an earthquake of 7 or larger since sometime between 1721 and 1731. "A future great Nankai earthquake is surely the most long-anticipated earthquake in history - it is the original definition of the 'Big One'," wrote geologists Kyle Bradley and Judith A. Hubbard in 2024. Earlier this month, the Japanese government announced a series of countermeasures aimed at reducing the number of deaths by up to 80% and structural damage by 50%, including making buildings more earthquake-resistant and improving evacuation protocols. "It is necessary for the nation, municipalities, companies and nonprofits to come together and take measures in order to save as many lives as possible," Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said. But Nishimura, the earthquake expert, says that more needs to be done to meet these ambitious targets. "Although realizing the decrease in structural damage may be challenging due to a limited budget, reducing fatalities can be achieved through more soft-type countermeasures, such as training and evacuation drills," he said. Copyright (C) 2025, Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Portions copyrighted by the respective providers.
Los Angeles Times
08-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
Earthquake swarms are fueling fear of the ‘big one' in Japan
More than 1,300 earthquakes have hit Japan's Tokara Islands in two weeks, prompting evacuations of dozens of residents from the remote archipelago on the country's southern tip. Although no major damage has been reported and no tsunami warnings have been issued, the Japan Meteorological Agency has cautioned that tremors as strong as a 'lower 6' on Japan's seven-stage seismic intensity scale — such as one that occurred Thursday — may continue. Lower 6 indicates an intensity that may make it difficult for people to stand without holding on to stable support. 'The seismic activity remains dynamic,' JMA official Ayataka Ebita said at a news conference Sunday — and that has fueled fears of a megaquake. The temblors have coincided with viral panic stemming from the 2021 reprint of a comic book that many are now interpreting as a clairvoyant prediction of a major earthquake. 'The real disaster will come in July 2025,' read the cover of manga artist Ryo Tatsuki's 'The Future that I Saw.' The graphic novel, which explores Tatsuki's dreams, also features a panel that says 'the ocean floor between Japan and the Philippines will crack.' In recent months, that prediction has become the subject of intense online speculation. It has even spread to nearby countries like Hong Kong, where it has been blamed for a recent dip in tourism to Japan. Last month, Hong Kong Airlines suspended all flights to the southern Japanese prefectures of Kagoshima and Kumamoto, citing low demand. In South Korea, earthquake panic has been cited as a reason for the cheapness of flights to Japan compared with last year, although industry experts have said that there are other factors at play: increased competition between airlines and a stronger yen that reduces the buying power of South Korean tourists. On Saturday, South Korean singer Taemin of the band SHINee, who was in Japan for a concert, referenced Tatsuki's prediction in a livestream, assuring fans he was safe and jokingly saying an earthquake might make his performance 'look cool.' But faced with backlash for making light of a natural disaster, he later issued an apology in Japanese and Korean. There is a reason why a comic book's scientifically baseless prediction is currently gaining so much traction: Tatsuki was (sort of) right before. The first edition of the graphic novel, published in 1999, referenced a 'massive disaster' in March 2011 and contained lines like: 'I dreamed of a great disaster. The waters of the Pacific Ocean south of the Japanese archipelago will rise.' That prediction seemed to come true with the massive 2011 Tohoku earthquake, which killed over 19,000 people and triggered the tsunami that led to the Fukushima nuclear disaster. At an estimated $360 billion incurred in economic damages, the earthquake remains one of the costliest natural disasters in history. It registered 9.0 on the Richter scale, which measures the magnitude of the earthquake. Shindo, Japan's seismic intensity scale, measures intensity at a specific location. The coincidence catapulted Tatsuki to fame and made her manga a bestseller. But in recent weeks, Tatsuki has tried to quell the panic over her latest prediction, saying in a statement issued through her publisher that she was 'not a prophet.' 'I believe that everyone should be free to make their own interpretation,' she told Japan's Mainichi newspaper in May. 'However, I think it is important to not get overly swept up in the process and to act appropriately in consideration of expert opinion.' Japanese government officials and scientists have taken pains to debunk the theories, stressing that it is scientifically impossible to predict earthquakes with such accuracy. 'It is absolutely a coincidence. There is no causal connection,' said Ebita of the JMA on Saturday. 'In Japan, earthquakes can happen at any time. Please be prepared, always.' ::: Japan is one of the most earthquake-prone countries in the world, given its location within the Pacific Ring of Fire, a 25,000-mile-long belt of seismic and volcanic hot spots that loops around the perimeter of the Pacific Ocean, including the U.S. West Coast. The country experiences about 1,500 earthquakes a year, or nearly a fifth of the world's total, and earthquake evacuation drills are regularly practiced by government agencies and public schools. On New Year's Day last year, a magnitude 7.5 earthquake in Noto Peninsula in central Japan led to over 500 deaths and destroyed or damaged at least 37,000 homes. Because they sit astride two overlapping tectonic plates, the Tokara Islands have long been prone to seismic activity such as 'earthquake swarms,' a burst of relatively minor earthquakes occurring in quick succession that can last up to several months. (Southern California is another common site of earthquake swarms, though many are so minor they are barely perceived.) The archipelago spans 12 individual islands — just seven of which are inhabited by a combined 660 or so residents — and the current swarm of quakes there is the most substantial since 1995. Two recent swarms that occurred in 2021 and 2023 exceeded just over 300 quakes each. Although it's unclear why the current swarm is so much greater than those instances, Takuya Nishimura, an earthquake expert at Kyoto University's Disaster Prevention Research Institute, says it may be a result of volcanic activity. 'I suspect the subsurface movement of magma caused severe earthquake activity,' he said. 'Several past studies show submarine volcanoes around the swarm region, which suggests the existence of magma under the ground.' Despite the current viral attention around the Tokara swarm, experts like Nishimura are more concerned with another, far more credible earthquake forecast that has loomed over the country for years. Earlier this year, a government panel estimated that there is an 80% chance of a magnitude 8 to 9 megaquake on the Richter scale occurring along Japan's Nankai Trough in the next 30 years. A 559-mile long fault line located off Japan's Pacific coast characterized by its subduction, in which one tectonic plate is forced under another, the Nankai Trough has produced devastating earthquakes every 90 to 200 years. The last one occurred in 1946. Under the government's worst-case scenario, the next Nankai megathrust earthquake is projected to kill about 300,000 people — most of them likely to perish in the tsunamis reaching as high as 100 feet — and cause up to $1.8 trillion in damage. By comparison, the death toll for the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake and the 1994 Northridge earthquake — the two biggest seismic events in recent California history — was 63 and 57. In the meantime, experts are studying the southernmost tip of the San Andreas fault, which hasn't had an earthquake of 7 or larger since sometime between 1721 and 1731. 'A future great Nankai earthquake is surely the most long-anticipated earthquake in history — it is the original definition of the 'Big One',' wrote geologists Kyle Bradley and Judith A. Hubbard in 2024. Earlier this month, the Japanese government announced a series of countermeasures aimed at reducing the number of deaths by up to 80% and structural damage by 50%, including making buildings more earthquake-resistant and improving evacuation protocols. 'It is necessary for the nation, municipalities, companies and nonprofits to come together and take measures in order to save as many lives as possible,' Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said. But Nishimura, the earthquake expert, says that more needs to be done to meet these ambitious targets. 'Although realizing the decrease in structural damage may be challenging due to a limited budget, reducing fatalities can be achieved through more soft-type countermeasures, such as training and evacuation drills,' he said.
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First Post
06-07-2025
- Entertainment
- First Post
Japanese region hit by 1,000 tremors, igniting fears of chilling 2025 manga prediction
In recent years, 'The Future I Saw' has gained viral attention in Japan and internationally for allegedly predicting the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami that devastated Fukushima read more Japan is currently experiencing a series of earthquakes, prompting the government to warn of potential future tremors in the waters southwest of its main islands. The warning came after the region was hit by a 5.4-magnitude quake on Saturday (July 5). Authorities have advised all 89 residents of Akuseki Island, located in the south, to evacuate after a strong earthquake struck on Thursday. This latest earthquake is part of a sequence of over 1,000 tremors that have recently impacted the region. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Adding to residents' concerns, social media has been abuzz with interpretations of a 1999 comic book, 'The Future I Saw' by Ryo Tatsuki, a self-proclaimed clairvoyant. The comic features handwritten predictions based on her dreams, many of which she claims have come true. In recent years, 'The Future I Saw' has gained viral attention in Japan and internationally for allegedly predicting the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami that devastated Fukushima. Ryo Tatsuki's manga specifically mentions a major disaster occurring on March 11, coincidentally the exact date of the 2011 event. With the recent tremors in southern Japan, social media users have rekindled interest in the comic, searching for potential clues about future earthquakes. Some believe the manga forecasts heightened seismic activity around 2025, which has further drawn public focus to the current quake clusters in Japan. In response to the buzz surrounding the comic and its predictions, Japan's government has urged the public not to rely on unverified predictions of a major disaster. 'With our current scientific knowledge, it's difficult to predict the exact time, place or scale of an earthquake," said Ayataka Ebita, director of the Japan Meteorological Agency's earthquake and tsunami monitoring division. 'We ask that people base their understanding on scientific evidence," Ebita told a press conference.
News18
06-07-2025
- Entertainment
- News18
Japan Heading Towards Disaster? 1000 Quakes Rock Tokara Islands; Tokyo Warns Of More Tremors
Last Updated: As the tremors shook southern Japan, social media users have revived interest in the comic, looking for clues or potential predictions about future quakes. Japan is witnessing earthquakes, with the government warning of more possible jolts in waters southwest of its main islands on Saturday after a 5.4-magnitude quake shook the area again on Saturday. The authorities have urged all 89 residents of Akuseki Island, a small island in the country's south, to evacuate following a strong earthquake on Thursday. The quake is the latest in a series of over 1,000 tremors that have recently struck the region. While the quakes already raised concerns among the residents, rumours sparked on social media platforms from interpretations of a 1999 comic book titled 'The Future I Saw" by Ryo Tatsuki, a self-proclaimed clairvoyant. The comic contains a series of handwritten predictions based on her dreams, many of which she claims came true. Earthquakes And The Manga Connection In recent years, The Future I Saw has gone viral in Japan and abroad for seemingly predicting the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami that devastated Fukushima. In the manga, Ryo Tatsuki mentioned a major disaster striking on March 11—the exact date of the 2011 event. Now, amid the recent tremors in southern Japan, social media users have revived interest in the comic, looking for clues or potential predictions about future quakes. Some claim that the manga warns of increased seismic activity around 2025, which has further intensified public attention to Japan's current quake clusters. 'With our current scientific knowledge, it's difficult to predict the exact time, place or scale of an earthquake," said Ayataka Ebita, director of the Japan Meteorological Agency's earthquake and tsunami monitoring division. 'We ask that people base their understanding on scientific evidence," Ebita told a press conference. Location : Japan First Published: July 06, 2025, 09:52 IST
CNN
05-07-2025
- CNN
Japan braces for more quakes, authorities dismiss doomsday hype
Japan's government on Saturday warned of more possible strong earthquakes in waters southwest of its main islands, but urged the public not to believe unfounded predictions of a major disaster. Authorities on Friday evacuated some residents from remote islands close to the epicenter of a 5.5-magnitude quake off the tip of the southernmost main island of Kyushu. That quake on Thursday, strong enough to make standing difficult, was one of more than 1,000 tremors in the islands of Kagoshima prefecture in the past two weeks that have fueled rumors stemming from a comic book prediction that a major disaster would befall the country this month. 'With our current scientific knowledge, it's difficult to predict the exact time, place or scale of an earthquake,' said Ayataka Ebita, director of the Japan Meteorological Agency's earthquake and tsunami monitoring division, after a 5.4-magnitude quake shook the area again on Saturday. 'We ask that people base their understanding on scientific evidence,' Ebita told a press conference. The manga, which some have interpreted as predicting a catastrophic event on Saturday, has prompted some travelers to avoid Japan. Arrivals from Hong Kong, where the rumors have circulated widely, were down 11% in May from the same month last year, according to the latest data. Japan has had record visitor numbers this year, with April setting an record monthly high of 3.9 million travelers. Ryo Tatsuki, the artist behind the manga 'The Future I Saw,' first published in 1999 and re-released in 2021, said she was 'not a prophet,' in a statement issued by her publisher. Earthquakes are common in Japan, one of the world's most seismically active areas. It accounts for about one-fifth of the world's earthquakes of magnitude 6 or greater.
