To members of the press: The Asahi Shimbun Company, represented by President and CEO Katsu Tsunoda, has received three Awards of Excellence at the 47th Creative Competition hosted by the Society for News Design (SND), a U.S.-based organization that honors outstanding news design from around the world. The awards include one in the infographics category and two in the illustration category. Award page: https://www.asahi.com/articles/ASV4S3T75V4SUEFT01FM.html The infographic award went to “A Comparison of U.S. and Chinese Military Capabilities and Major Weapons,” published in the morning edition on May 24, 2025. The feature uses a comparison of military capabilities to show the reality of China’s rapid military expansion and the capacity of the United States to deter conflict. Yuki Hara, deputy editor in the Digital Editorial Division, said the work visualized the military balance in the Indo-Pacific region, which is directly tied to Japan’s security, based on the latest data. Because existing data showing the actual situation was limited, four reporters spent about a month and a half independently collecting and analyzing information from primary sources. The calculated data was then reviewed by security experts and former senior Self-Defense Forces officials, and refined to reflect reality as closely as possible, including by excluding outdated weapons that could not be used in actual combat. The presentation was also carefully designed: in addition to U.S. Indo-Pacific Command forces deployed in the region, the total strength of all U.S. forces that could respond in a contingency was expressed through color gradations, depicting the complex power balance among Japan, the United States, and China. The team also visualized “major sea lanes” to convey how a Taiwan contingency and other scenarios could affect Japan. With permission to use data from the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), the work mapped the potential impact on Japan’s lifelines. It w