Pedestrians walk on a street in Tokyo, Japan, June 18, 2025. File photo: Xinhua

A rumor claiming that a devastating earthquake would strike Japan on Saturday (July 5) has recently gone viral on social media, drawing widespread attention. As a result, many foreign tourists have canceled their trips to Japan, impacting the country's tourism industry. The Japanese government and experts have stepped forward to refute the rumor, stressing that it lacks any scientific basis, CCTV News reported on Saturday. 

On Saturday, the topic surged to the top of trending searches on Chinese social media. "Nothing happened in Japan" became the No.1 trending topic on Chinese X-like platform Weibo. According to Weibo users, the so-called "doomsday time" for Japan—4:18 am on July 5—had come and gone, and apart from a minor earthquake, nothing significant has happened so far.

According to the Japan Meteorological agency, a total of 911 felt earthquakes were recorded in the waters near the Tokara Islands in Kagoshima Prefecture between 8 am on June 21 and 4 pm on July 2. On July 2, the Agency held an emergency press conference, urging local residents to remain alert and be prepared to evacuate at any time.

According to the China Meteorological Administration, this year's third typhoon, "Mun," formed over the northwestern Pacific Ocean on July 3. Its center was located approximately 1,150 kilometers southeast of Tokyo, Japan. Typhoon "Mun" is expected to move northward to northeastward over the waters east of Honshu, Japan, at a speed of about 20 kilometers per hour, with its intensity gradually increasing. 

Meanwhile, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency, the average temperature in Japan for June this year was 2.34C higher than the baseline, making it the hottest June since records began in 1898. The agency predicts that Japan will experience prolonged periods of extreme heat this summer, with high temperatures expected to persist until September. 

In light of this, the Chinese Embassy in Japan on Friday issued a notice reminding Chinese citizens in the country to be vigilant against natural disasters, as earthquakes have frequently struck southwestern Japan.

Viral rumours of impending disaster stemming from a comic book prediction have taken the shine off Japan's tourism boom, with some airlines cancelling flights from Hong Kong where passengers numbers have plunged, Reuters reported on Friday.

Steve Huen of Hong Kong-based travel agency EGL Tours attributed the panic to a wave of social media predictions tied to a manga that depicts a dream of a massive earthquake and tsunami striking Japan and neighbouring countries in July 2025, according to Reuters.

According to Japan's Yomiuri Shimbun, the source of the prediction traces back to Japanese manga artist Ryo Tatsuki, who published a comic book in 1999 titled The Future I Saw, based on a collection of dreams she recorded, in what she called her "dream diary." The book's cover included the phrase "A major disaster in March 2011," which some later interpreted as a forewarning of the Great East Japan Earthquake. This has sparked renewed interest and debate.

The Japan Meteorological Agency stressed Thursday that rumors circulating on social media about a possible major earthquake are "not scientific" following a series of quakes around the Tokara Islands in Kagoshima Prefecture, the Japanese media reported. 

At a press conference on Thursday evening, an agency official addressed the rumor that frequent earthquakes around the Tokara Islands could signal a major quake in a different location, according to media reports.

Regarding the rumor that a major catastrophe may occur in July 2025, the official also said, "Current science and technology cannot predict earthquakes," according to Japanese media reports. 

Robert J. Geller, seismologist and professor emeritus at the University of Tokyo, was quoted as saying in the CCTV News report that there is currently no scientific evidence to support such predictions.

"As things stand now, it is not possible to predict earthquakes using scientific methods," the expert said, according to the media report. 

Global Times