I AI Japan symbol

On March 11 2011 at 2:46pm, Japan got hit by a massive earthquake that occurred near the northeastern coast of Japan creating an extremely destructive tsunami minutes later.

Me living in Tokyo Japan, experienced this first hand. I wanted to help in any way that was in my power.

With this symbol that I designed, I partnered with Spreadshirt.nl to create high quality t-shirts, with all the profits helping the people in the affected areas.

Because the earthquake didn't only affected Japan, I wanted a symbol that people could understand, without the need for any knowledge of the Japanese language.

The word "love" is "ai" in Japanese, in Japan they use this "愛" kanji.
Which is based from three other kanji's; “旡　＋　心　＋　久”.

Caring is something that comes from the heart, so I wanted the focus to be on the “心” kanji, "こころ / kokoro", which means “heart” in Japanese. Replaced that kanji with a heart symbol, made it so anyone around the world could read it, whatever language they know.

With the "愛" kanji in black calligraphy style and the red from the Japanese national flag (that represents the sun), directly shows that it's about Japan.

Automotive Industries where great to sponsor their "i.ai" domain at the time for a limited period. That made the domain "i.ai/japan" (currently accessible at http://fekoja.com/japan/).

More information and t-shirts http://fekoja.com/japan/ + http://iaijapan.spreadshirt.nl
Twitter: https://twitter.com/iaijapan
Spreadshirt: http://www.spreadshirt.nl / http://www.spreadshirt.com
Automotive Industries: http://www.ai-online.com