Latest news with #psychics
CNN
03-07-2025
- CNN
The manga that's sparking fears of a megaquake in Japan
Japan gets earthquakes every day – but viral predictions of a July 5 megaquake, from psychics to feng shui masters, have spooked some travelers into canceling their trips. While scientists can't predict quakes, the government warns a catastrophic "big one," the Nankai Trough megaquake, could strike in the next 20 to 30 years, with damage potentially hitting $10 trillion. CNN's Hanako Montgomery reports.
CNN
03-07-2025
- CNN
The manga that's sparking fears of a megaquake in Japan
Japan gets earthquakes every day – but viral predictions of a July 5 megaquake, from psychics to feng shui masters, have spooked some travelers into canceling their trips. While scientists can't predict quakes, the government warns a catastrophic "big one," the Nankai Trough megaquake, could strike in the next 20 to 30 years, with damage potentially hitting $10 trillion. CNN's Hanako Montgomery reports.
The Independent
20-06-2025
- The Independent
How an apocalyptic comic book prediction hit Japan's tourism industry
A 1999 manga comic, "The Future I Saw" by Ryo Tatsuki, has caused a significant drop in travel bookings to Japan due to its prediction of a major earthquake and tsunami on July 5, 2025. Hong Kong travel agencies reported up to a 50 per cent drop in Japan bookings during the Easter holiday, with some agencies seeing up to 80 per cent fewer inquiries. The comic gained a cult following after Tatsuki's previous prediction coincided with the 2011 Tohoku earthquake, leading to amplified warnings on social media by psychics and influencers. Despite scientific consensus that earthquakes cannot be precisely predicted, and warnings from Japanese officials against unscientific rumors, the fear-mongering has impacted tourism from China, Hong Kong, Thailand, and Vietnam. The manga artist, Ryo Tatsuki, has reportedly urged travellers not to be "overly swayed" by her dreams and to act appropriately based on expert opinions.
Daily Mail
29-05-2025
- General
- Daily Mail
Chilling prediction that four of the world's most famous psychics say will happen in 2025
Four famous psychics have all warned about the same chilling event that they say will be taking place later this year. Bulgarian mystic and healer Baba Vanga, French 16th Century astrologer Nostradamus, Brazilian psychic Athos Salomé and London hypnotherapist Nicolas Aujula have all issued the same worrying prophecy for 2025. Baba Vanga, dubbed 'Nostradamus of the Balkans', has previously accurately predicted 9/11, the death of Princess Diana and the rise of China before her death in 1996. Alongside her predictions for shattering earthquakes due to the climate crises this year, which has already come true as Myanmar and Thailand faced devastating earthquakes last month, Baba has also forecast that Europe would be rocked by a devastating war. The prophet, who was born in 1911 as Vangeliya Pandeva Gushterova, had predicted the war as the start of 'humanity's downfall' that will 'devastate' the population. Meanwhile Nostradamus warned in his book Les Prophéties, a collection of 942 poetic quatrains allegedly predicting future events, that this year the UK is going to be drawn into a war. In the book, which first appeared in 1555, he said: 'When those from the lands of Europe, see England set up her throne behind. Her flanks, there will be cruel wars. 'The kingdom will be marked by wars so cruel, foes from within and without will arise. A great pestilence from the past returns, no enemy more deadly under the skies.' Another psychic who was named after the French astrologer but is still alive today, Athos Salomé, 38, from Brazil, dubbed the 'Living Nostradamus', also predicted a coming war. In December 2024, Salome, who correctly predicted past disasters including the coronavirus pandemic, Queen Elizabeth's death and the Microsoft global outage, chillingly predicted that World War III is imminent. With tensions rising around the world, he warned that we are teetering on the edge of WWIII, saying 'the worst is yet to come'. He notably warned of the issues around using technology and cyber war as the major forms of combat in the twenty first century. He said: 'This is not just a war of men, but of machines, and in this aspect what comes next?' Meanwhile Nicolas Aujula, a 38-year-old hypnotherapist based in London, agrees saying 2025 will be 'a year where there is a lack of compassion in the world.' 'We will see horrific acts of human evil and violence towards each other,' Aujula predicted, 'in the name of religion and nationalism.' Based on his psychic visions, he expects WWIII could be here by the middle of this year. The prospect of war reaching the UK feels more plausible now than ever before as Vladimir Putin's propagandists have declared that British blood 'must be spilled' in a haunting World War III threat, after they accused Britain of supplying the explosives that killed a top general in a Moscow car bomb last month. Lieutenant General Yaroslav Moskalik died in Moscow near his home in the eastern suburb of Balashikha after a Volkswagen Gold filled with explosives was detonated in his presence. The dead military man was a deputy head of the main operational department in the General Staff of the Russian army. While the Kremlin blamed Ukraine for the attack, Putin's propagandists have now turned their ire on Britain. So-called military expert Andrei Klintsevich told Russia 1 that Britain's security service handed explosives to the perpetrators 'by the ton.' Propagandist Vladimir Solovyov angrily added: 'We do realise that someone is creative a network of planted explosives and [transporting] these explosives. 'When we say that British security services are behind every terrorist attack, it means that the blood of the British who authorised the killings on Russian soil must be spilled. 'They must realise that they will pay personally. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.' Solovyov threatened revenge on the alleged suppliers of the explosives and British intelligence. 'If these factories blow up [as well as] the headquarters of the intelligence agencies that gave the go-ahead for the terrorist attacks, they should not be surprised,' he said. It comes after Putin lackey Dmitry Medvedev warned that Sweden and Finland, two of NATO's latest members, are now potential targets of nuclear revenge. Dmitry Medvedev, who has styled himself as one of Russia's most outspoken anti-Western hawks, appeared to be referring to Sweden and Finland, the last two countries to join the Western military alliance. If conflict were to arise, nuclear weapons would not be off the table, the TASS state news agency reported. 'The non-aligned status gave them [Finland and Sweden] certain international perks, given their geopolitical position and many other factors,' Medvedev said. 'And now they are part of a bloc hostile to us which means they automatically became a target for our armed forces, including potential retaliatory strikes and even the nuclear component or preventive measures within the framework of a military doctrine.' Sweden was granted full membership of NATO last March, while Finland joined in April 2023, extending the alliance's border with Russia by over 1,300km. Last week, Moscow also warned Britain against deploying a 'coalition of the willing' in Ukraine, declaring it could lead to a nuclear World War Three. Putin hawk Sergei Shoigu, secretary of the powerful Russian security council and ex-defence minister, said Russia rejected Western boots on the ground in the war-torn country.
RNZ News
19-05-2025
- RNZ News
A Japanese manga claims a natural disaster is imminent. Now, some tourists are cancelling their trips
By Mai Takiguchi and Chris Lau , CNN Foreign tourists gather at Kyoto station on 16 April 2025. Photo: PHILIP FONG A Japanese comic book warns of a "real catastrophe". A psychic predicts mass destruction. A feng shui master urges people to stay away. This might sound like the plot of a disaster movie but for Japan's tourism industry, a recent spate of so-called earthquake-related "predictions" like these has led to more superstitious travellers, particularly in East Asia, cancelling or delaying their holidays. Seismologists have long warned that accurately predicting when an earthquake might strike is all but impossible. Japan is a country with a good track record of withstanding even powerful tremors and the prospect of a major quake is something its population lives with on a daily basis. But the fear of a "big one", amplified by both soothsayers and social media, is prompting some travellers to get cold feet. And for many, it's a comic book that's scaring them away. Published by manga artist Ryo Tatsuki in 1999, The Future I Saw warned of a major disaster in March 2011, a date which turned out to coincide with the cataclysmic quake that struck Japan's northern Tohoku region that month. Her "complete version" released in 2021 claimed that the next big earthquake will hit this July. At the same time, psychics from Japan and Hong Kong have shared similar warnings, triggering some unfounded panic online that has led to a flurry of cancelations of travel plans from destinations in the region. CN Yuen, managing director of WWPKG, a travel agency based in Hong Kong, said bookings to Japan dropped by half during the Easter holiday and are expected to dip further in the coming two months. The speculations have scared off mostly travellers from mainland China and Hong Kong, which are Japan's second- and fourth-largest sources of tourists, respectively. But the fear has also spread to other markets such as Thailand and Vietnam, where social media platforms are overflowing with posts and videos warning people to think twice before travelling to Japan. Anxieties provoked by these prophecies have, according to Yuen, become "ingrained". He added that "people just say they want to hold off their trip for now". Japan is no stranger to severe earthquakes. It lies on the Ring of Fire, an area of intense seismic and volcanic activity on both sides of the Pacific Ocean. Fears of a "big one" have been mounting since the Japanese government warned in January that there was an 80 percent chance of a severe earthquake hitting the country's southern Nankai Trough within 30 years. Some seismologists have been critical of these warnings, questioning whether they can ever be accurate. Tatsuki's work has a significant following in East Asia and her fans often believe she can accurately see future events in her dreams. She draws a cartoon version of herself in the manga, where she shares visions she gleans from her slumbers with other characters. Some of these dreams turn out to bear close resemblance to real-life events. Her 2011 quake prediction - or coincidence - made Tatsuki famous not just in Japan but also in other parts of Asia like Thailand and China. The comic book has sold 900,000 copies, according to its publisher. It has also been published in Chinese. The cover of Japanese comic book, "The Future I Saw (Complete Version)". Photo: Mai Takiguchi / CNN Fans believed she also predicted the deaths of Princess Diana and singer Freddie Mercury, as well as the Covid-19 pandemic, however critics say her visions are too vague to be taken seriously. The manga's cover bears the words "massive disaster in March, 2011", leading many to believe that she predicted the 9.0-magnitude earthquake more than a decade before it hit Tohoku. The quake triggered a deadly tsunami that killed tens of thousands and crippled the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, resulting in the worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl. In the latest edition, The Future I Saw (Complete Version) , Tatsuki warned that on 5 July this year, a crack will open up under the seabed between Japan and the Philippines, sending ashore waves three times as tall as those from the Tohoku earthquake. The author was recently asked what she thought about the cancelled trips resulting from readers' interpretations of her book. Japanese newspaper Mainichi Shimbun reported last week that while she viewed it "very positively" that interest in her work has made people more prepared for disasters, she urged them not to be "overly swayed" by her dreams and "act appropriately based on expert opinions". She's not the only doomsayer. Chinese media has been reporting the predictions of a self-proclaimed Japanese psychic who suggested a massive earthquake would strike the densely populated Tokyo Bay Area on 26 April. Though the date passed without incident, the prediction triggered immense interest on Chinese social media. Qi Xian Yu, a popular feng shui master and Hong Kong TV personality known as Master Seven, also urged people to stay away from Japan, starting in April. Japan's Cabinet Office took to X earlier this month to explain that modern technology has yet to be able to accurately predict an earthquake. Meanwhile Yoshihiro Murai, governor of Miyagi prefecture, which was hit hard during the 2011 quake, spoke out against the impact of superstitious beliefs on Japan's tourism. "I believe it is a serious issue when the spread of highly unscientific rumours on social media had an effect on tourism," he said during a press conference. Despite all the social media static, it's unclear whether the fearmongering is working - Japan remains a wildly popular destination. Samantha Tang, from Hong Kong, is one of those who has shelved her trip to the country. Originally she planned to visit Wakayama, a beach destination about 80km south of Osaka, in August, but has gotten cold feet. "Everyone says so much about an earthquake coming," said the 34-year-old yoga teacher, who says she has gone on vacation to Japan at least once a year since the end of the pandemic. Another Hong Kong traveller, Oscar Chu, 36, who usually visits Japan multiple times per year, has changed his mind this year as well. "It's best to avoid it. It's going to be really troublesome if an earthquake indeed happens," he said. He explained he wasn't too worried specifically about being in an earthquake but was wary of the ensuing travel chaos and flight disruptions. Still, plenty of tourists are undeterred. Japan has seen the number of visitors surge to a record-breaking 10.5 million in the first three months of 2025, according to the Japan National Tourism Organisation. Meanwhile, 2.36 million mainland Chinese travellers visited Japan in the first quarter of this year, up 78 percent from last year, the tourism body said. During the same period, some 647,600 Hongkongers visited Japan, marking an overall 3.9 percent year-on-year growth. And that's only tourists from East Asia. In March alone, 343,000 Americans visited Japan, along with 68,000 Canadians and 85,000 Australians. Vic Shing from Hong Kong is among those who haven't changed their plans. Although he has heard about "the prophecy," he said he remained committed to his Japan vacation this year. He is visiting Tokyo and Osaka in June. "Earthquake predictions have never been accurate," he said. Even if one did hit, "Japan has encountered many massive earthquakes before. It shouldn't be too bad when it comes to disaster management," he added. - CNN
