The Future I Saw

is a picture story book (manga) by Ryo Tatsuki. It was first printed on July 1, 1999. A full version was printed again on October 1, 2021, and another version with more of the writer’s dream notes came out on April 1, 2022. The book is made of drawings based on dreams the writer had, written down in her dream book (diary). The second part also has a mystery story she drew before she stopped making picture stories. The new version has more notes and background about the book.

This book became well-known after a big earthquake and sea wave (tsunami) hit Japan in 2011. People saw that the book’s front cover seemed to show that a bad event would happen in March 2011. In 2020, even though the first company that printed the book was gone and no more copies were being made, people started looking for it again, and prices for old copies went up.In 2021, the book was printed again, this time saying a "real bad thing" might happen in July 2025. In 2025, many people worried about this, and fewer people from East Asia flew to Japan during summer. Some airlines even stopped flying to Japan, because travelers were afraid the book’s dream would come true.

 Background 
Tatsuki Ryo began writing down her dreams in 1985 after her mother gave her a notebook. In the 1990s, she had a hard time writing new stories and decided to stop making books. For her last work, she put together her past stories and dream drawings into one book.

She said that right before the book was finished, she didn’t know what last words to write on one of the pages. Then, in a dream, she saw the words “The disaster will arrive in March 2011” on a white screen. Those were the words—“Great disaster, year 2011 month 3 (March)”—that ended up on the book’s front cover when it was first printed on July 1, 1999. She stopped working in the story business not long after that.

The book tells about her dreams and how some seemed to match real-life events, including one about a big sea wave (tsunami). It is said that out of the 15 dreams shown in the book, 13 have already come true.

 Dreams and Real-Life Events 
In both the first and full version of the book, Tatsuki shares dreams she had, and some seem to match things that really happened many years later. These are two of the stories from the book:

 On November 24, 1976, Tatsuki had a dream about the sudden death of a man named Freddie Mercury. She dreamed of him again on November 29, 1986, where she also saw the other people from his music group (Queen) and a statue of a man she did not know. Freddie Mercury died on November 24, 1991 — exactly 15 years after her first dream about his death.
 In 1992, Tatsuki dreamed of a picture of a woman and heard the name “DIANNA” spoken in the dream. On August 31, 1997, Diana, Princess of Wales, died in a car crash. However, Tatsuki said she did not feel in the dream that the woman was going to die. She said it was readers who later thought the dream meant that.

 Media 

 Media Coverage and Impact 
After a big earthquake and sea wave hit Japan in March 2011, some people sent messages to Tatsuki saying the words on her book's cover had come true. But by then, Tatsuki had already forgotten what the cover said. News stories about this were very few.

In 2020, even though the book had not been printed for many years, it became popular again. Some copies were sold for as much as 500,000 yen. The company that first printed the book was no longer running. During this time, a person pretending to be Tatsuki gave fake stories to the news, saying she had dreamed of other big events, like a famous singer’s death and a mountain blowing up — none of which she had really said. That person even said a mountain would explode in August, but it didn’t happen. A TV show in Japan called Unbelievable began showing stories about strange dreams. Tatsuki then talked to a new publisher, and they printed the book again on October 1, 2021. The new version sold very well. On May 13, 2025, it became the best-selling book in Japan that week, with 500,000 copies sold. Still, no one has said it will be printed in other languages.

The new version of the book had a message from one of Tatsuki’s dreams: "The real disaster will happen in July 2025." She later said it would be a huge break in the ground under the sea near the Philippines, causing a sea wave even bigger than the one in 2011, which would badly hurt Japan. Later, the story changed, and some said the disaster would be from a space rock hitting Earth on July 5, 2025, or even the end of the world.

This rumor spread to Hong Kong, and some airlines stopped flying to Japanese cities like Sendai and Tokushima. One airline even stopped all flights to Sendai as of May 31. The rumor became very big and spread to China, Vietnam, and Thailand. Many people canceled their summer trips to Japan. News said trips from Hong Kong dropped by 50%, and even more in late June and early July—down by 83%. Because of this, more people in English- and French-speaking places heard about the book, with big papers like Le Monde writing about it.

A movie called 4:18 AM, July 5, 2025 was also announced, based on Tatsuki’s dream. But Tatsuki and the book company said they had nothing to do with the movie. They also said that the dream happened around 4:18 AM on July 5, 2021, but the dream only said that something bad would happen in July 2025, not the exact time.

 References 

Category:Manga