We would like to offer our deepest sympathies to all of those affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake. Although the destruction of entire towns over an area stretching for 500 kilometers to the north and south is of an almost unimaginable scale, we believe that this immense devastation can be overcome and we hope that during the process of rebuilding the disaster-affected region, we can also discover a path for the future of Japan and the world.

The earthquake has also brought the new crisis of radioactive contamination to Japan. Not only is there the physical issue of the cleanup following the nuclear accident, but one of the first steps on the path to recovery must be to reduce the negative image which people have of Japan as a country contaminated by nuclear radiation, and thereby lessen the damage to Japanese industry, by presenting the world with an objective look at the current situation – at least within a range that is reasonable to modern science.

Under the name "311 SCALE," Nippon Design Center has begun a project aimed at presenting data from the Great East Japan Earthquake in visual form. We are creating graphs which illustrate issues such as how the earthquake and tsunami struck, and the radiation levels in each area affected by the nuclear accident, based on a fundamental approach of no dramatization, no opinions, producing communication that can be understood easily by people around the world, and achieving the maximum possible accuracy.
Creating an entirely neutral visual representation of numerical figures is not always an easy task. Graphs provide a clear representation of the numbers, however while a graph can efficiently express the characteristics of these numbers, at the same time the visual representation automatically generates something which can guide the viewer toward certain conclusions. Although a graph should be entirely objective, in fact it can produce a bias in its interpretation as a result of the images which the viewer derives from its form.

The graphs which are creating are no exception; however we are committed to avoiding unnecessary explanation and interpretive perspectives to the maximum extent possible, and will endeavor to provide the most objective viewpoint of Japan today. We hope that viewers will approach this information from a non-emotional and open perspective.