The Taiwan and Hong Kong region tourists are termed to have ‘canceled’ their vacations to Japan fearing an impending earthquake that is online speculated to hit Japan around July. In this present era of misinformation and technology, three terms define social media- where a story circulates depicting a ‘manga’ was to blame for circling such.
Rumors anticipate that they will most certainly blame facebook for housing herd mentality. People per Facebook group reaching extremities of hundreds of thousands forming such theories have now turned into self proclaimed geologists. Frankie Chow, the manager of CLS Holidays who had previously reached Hongkong shared his experience claiming things started getting weird as early as March. Even risk bearing travelers are now surprised as interest of trips solely vanishing to around seventy or eighty percent of last year’s propels concern on the level spooked they appear.
Japan had a record year in tourism with more than 36 million foreign visitors and even topping Condé Nast Traveler’s list of favorite destinations in 2024. But fast forward to now, people seem to be ditching their travel agents or switching countries entirely.
Sure, but what about the scientific verification? The government of Japan remarked: categorically no. They shared on X that making a scientifically sound prediction detailing the date and location of an earthquake is out of the question. But the public is still on edge. Reasonable, considering the haunting 2011 quake and tsunami that lives rent-free in the national consciousness.
What other things do not help? A warning feng shui video that advised folks against visiting Japan this summer. The clip has over 100,000 views and, well, people are starting to heed the warning.
Some travelers, like Don Hon, 32, from Hong Kong, are on standby. “I’m not suggesting I believe it entirely, but I’d rather err on the side of caution,” he stated. Japan is now off the itinerary.
Indeed, the earthquake fears seem to have halted business operations at greater bay airlines as well, as its flights to Tokushima have been reduced from three to two per week. Even Governor Yoshihiro Murai of Miyagi stepped into the debate, cautioning that, “unscientific nonsense” on social media can be dangerous and economically catastrophic for Japan.
All the while, Japan continues to be one of the most well-equipped countries in relation to earthquakes. Next-generation alert systems, earthquake resistant buildings, eh… everything has pretty much, uh, well you know – they prepared for it all. And as much as I hate admitting it, in frenzy and fear virality tends to drown logic.
