We wish to clarify that comments attributed to Japanese government spokesman Noriyuki Shikata on the front page of the South China Morning Post on Friday, March 18, were not meant to imply any endorsement of foreigners or Japanese fleeing Tokyo owing to the nuclear crisis. The quotes were intended to show that the Japanese government insisted there was no need for anyone to leave Tokyo or Japan, beyond the 20-kilometre evacuation zone surrounding the Fukushima nuclear power plant.