Nikkei wins top Japan media award for 3D visual explainers

TOKYO -- Nikkei Inc. has received one of the Japanese newspaper industry's highest awards for a pair of interactive, in-depth features that combine open-source intelligence with 3D visuals.

It was among six prizes won by Japan's leading business daily this year, the Japan Newspaper Publishers & Editors Association announced Wednesday. The award ceremony will be held on Oct. 16 in the northern Japanese city of Akita.

One of the winning features was a visual explainer published in July last year that showed how the Japanese government planned to release treated wastewater from the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant into the Pacific Ocean. 

The other winning visual explainer reconstructed the deadly collision between a Japan Airlines passenger plane with a Japan Coast Guard aircraft in January this year.

The features were produced by Nikkei's OSINT reporting team, headed by visual journalist Hirofumi Yamamoto.