While on the same food delivery mission that May, he met a woman in Ishinomaki that had been denied food and shelter, stating she felt thrown away as a Japanese citizen, which led him to further investigate and document the events.[4]
Noland went back to Tokyo, where he interviewed Tokyo Electric Power Company in an effort to gain a better understanding of the impact of the disaster.[5] Unsatisfied with the little amount of information, he went on to interview more residents who shared the same frustration.[6]
In June Noland returned to the Tōhoku region to volunteer and see how the people, communities, officials and cities were coping with the rebuilding efforts and radiation.[7] He spent the entire summer visiting the largely hit communities of Miyako, Kamaishi, back to Ōfunato, Rikuzentakata, Kesennuma, Minami Sanriku and Ishinomaki,[4] which led him to further investigate and document the events.[8]
By August Noland saw another distress call from Minamisōma again on YouTube, this time from a city councilman.[9] Noland contacted the councilman through the volunteer network and arranged a meeting after checking on citizens affected by high levels of radiation in Fukushima city and Kōriyama. It was Noland's conclusion that despite everything, he felt the media had most importantly ignored the children's safety due to radioactive contamination and further awareness of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster.
3.11: Surviving Japan was conceived, directed, filmed and narrated by Christopher Noland. The executive producer was Simon Hilton; producers were Q'orianka Kilcher, Dave Parrish and Noland; the cinematographer was Noland; editing was done by Noland, MB X. McClain and Andrea Hale; the sound editor and mixer was Scott Delaney; "Kurushi" by Yoko Ono contributed to the soundtrack.
The documentary was made in exactly one year. Noland began the project as a one-man crew until September when he was joined by MB X. McClain to edit over 100 hours of footage down to 180 minutes until Noland moved back to the United States in late November to finish post-production with editor Andrea Hale. Noland credits the moral support of Yoko Ono, Simon Hilton, and Imaginepeace.com for their undying support during his one-man production.[1]