'The medium is the message" — with that famous 1964 phrase, communication theorist Marshall McLuhan emphasized that societies are influenced just as much by a medium as the content it carries. Three years later, McLuhan and graphic designer Quentin Fiore teamed up to create the book "The Medium is the Massage: An Inventory of Effects." The book soon developed a cult following with its experimental superimposition of visual elements and text, which gives graphic expression to McLuhan's difficult theories. The word "massage" in the title — a play on his famous phrase — was used to denote the so-called massaging of media on the human sensorium.

Tokyo's new guide to disaster survival, "Tokyo Bosai" ("Disaster Preparedness Tokyo"), may not be tackling something as inaccessible as McLuhan's media theories, yet here, too, the medium is the message. Issued on Sept. 1, the B6-size, 340-page manual produced by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government (TMG), and sent to 7.5 million households in Tokyo free of charge, has assumed cult status according to a Yomiuri Shimbun report. To the anger of the TMG, some copies were even auctioned online.

The bright yellow, richly illustrated handbook resulted from a collaboration between TMG's Disaster Prevention Department, advertising agency Dentsu Inc. and young design firm Nosigner. As though the alarming coloring of the guide wasn't enough, it opens up with this disquieting statement: "It is predicted that there is a 70 percent possibility of an earthquake directly hitting Tokyo within the next 30 years." And then directly addresses readers: "Are you prepared?"