JSCE Newsletter No.14, March 2004

Japan Society of Civil Engineers
International Activities Committee

NewsletterNo. 14 March 2004

New Year’s Message from President Mikanagi

PresidentKiyoyasu Mikanagi
Many large-scale disasters, which occurred
during the past year affected JSCE and the civilengineering sector as well as the general public. InJapan, large-scale earthquakes such as the MiyagiOki Earthquake (May 26), the Northern Miyagi
Earthquake (July 26), and the Tokachi-Oki
Earthquake (September 26) took place, and duringconcentrated downpour in Kyushu region between
July 18th through 20th, 23 precious lives were lost.
In overseas, The Turkey Bingol Earthquake (May1) claimed 176 lives and the Algeria Boumerdes
Earthquake (May 21) claimed over 200 lives.
In response to these disasters, JSCE
promptly dispatched its investigation teams to thesites in order to grasp the situations and to find out
the causes of these disasters. Such JSCE activities
were broadcasted on television and reported bynewspapers. Thus, they were made visible to thepublic eyes. It is indeed gratifying that the public
understands a part of our activities. I would likeagain to express my appreciation to the members
who have contributed to the disaster investigations.
In midst of the recent fiscal reform, thesituation surrounding the public works isincreasingly strained. On the other hand, it is a factthat the public strongly demands safety, security,and especially the measures against unpredictabledisasters. In May 2003, the Central Disaster
Management Council formulated the Outline for theTokai Earthquake Countermeasures, which wasendorsed by the Cabinet in July. It is an urgent task
for the nation and the players within to enforce
various measures according to this policy, such as“Earthquake Resistant Measures,” “TsunamiCountermeasures,” “Building of High-level
Disaster Information Network & Establishment ofAlso available on web: www.jsce.or.jp

Emergency Response System,” and “Improvementof Regional Disaster Countermeasures.” In addition
to the Tokai Earthquake, the imminence of theTonankai Earthquake, the Nankai Earthquake andother strong earthquakes in the Metropolitan area issuggested. The estimation of the damage as well as
the preparation of an outline for thecountermeasures are currently in progress, led by
the expert panel of the Central Disaster
Management Council.
After the Kobe Earthquake of 1995, JSCE
investigated the damages, held debriefing sessions,and published reports, as well as proposals such as
the standards of earthquake resistance and seismic
reinforcement in order to improve the seismic
resistance of civil engineering structures. In
November 2003, to synchronize with the action ofthe Central Disaster Management Council, JSCE
has established the Special Committee on Measuresagainst Huge Earthquake Disasters and thus began
to examine the actions and the roles that are
required of JSCE in face of huge earthquakedisasters. It is our hope to publicize the findings ofthe committee in the near future while taking into
consideration the comments from various sectors.
Beyond the information exchange in timesof disaster, another important theme for JSCE is thecommunication with the public, as exemplified in
the responses to the questions raised by the society
about civil engineering sector or infrastructuredevelopment. From this standpoint, JSCE hasestablished a new communication system with thesociety, in accordance with JSCE 2005, which wasformulated in May 2003. Our aim is to accurately
detect the demands of the society and to fulfill
various functions in order to respond promptly intimes of emergency and in ordinary times.
Year 2004 will see the beginning of
substantial JSCE efforts under this new system. It is
my sincere hope that our members understand such
efforts and participate in our effort to further
strengthen the communication with the society.

1JSCE Newsletter No.14,March 2004

JSCE Study Tour Grant
JSCE is active indeveloping its relations
withoverseas
andsupportingdeveloping
countries.
Onesuchexample is the Study Tour
Grant since 1990. The
Tulga Gantumuur
main goals of this tour areto strengthen cooperation
with other countries, exchange skills and topropagate Japanese building technologies andsuccess of scientific research to overseas.
Mongolian Association of Civil Engineers is the21st society to conclude the cooperation agreementwith JSCE. As JSCE offered the 2003 Study Tour
Grant to the Mongolian Association of CivilEngineers (MACE), I had the opportunity toobserve and study the latest achievements andsuccesses of Japanese building sector.
Japan’s topography and soil condition
create much difficulty for the building sector, andeven more for the infrastructure sector activities.
Japan’s territory is located on the crossing of 3
tectonic plates: Eurasian, Pacific Ocean’s andPhilippines’, causing about 70 percent of the total
earthquakes in the world to happen in this region.
For these reasons, Japanese engineers pay great
attention in overcoming these natural factors withsmallest risk possible. It is the main goal of theirresearch and their great effort in this work isbringing success.
During the Study Tour, at every place I
visited, I came across laboratory equipments thatare considered highly in the world. For example, inBuilding Research Institute in Tsukuba, I saw thehighest Reaction Wall in the world that measured
20Wх25Hх6.6T, and another one that measured
15Wх15Hх3.0T. In Public Works ResearchInstitute, I saw the biggest three-dimensional
shaking table, which measured 8х8m and had thecapacity of 300 tons. In Kajima Technical ResearchInstitute, by one of Japan’s building sector giants,
Kajima Corporation, I saw a wind tunnel with
4.3meter diameter fan, which is also considered thebiggest in the world.
Achievements in minimizing damages
caused by the earthquakes that harm Japan’seconomy more than any other natural disasters, areobvious from the conclusion made by theinternational experts’ group after the 1995 Kobe
Earthquake. Nevertheless this earthquake claimed
6,000 lives and a considerable number of buildings
were ruined. It is difficult to imagine how muchdamage a 7.4 magnitude earthquake would cause, if
it would occur in a big city in any other country
with the same population.
With sparsely populated vast territory andcities occupying a small area of the entire territory,earthquake is not the number one problem inMongolia. However, the government pays muchattention to this issue in recent years and had taken

2

definite measures, after the September and October2003 earthquakes of magnitudes 6.9-7.1, which
occurred in Russian territory, not far from theMongolian border.
Cooperation between JSCE and MACE
plays vital role in propagating Japan’s skills, which
can be the model in decreasing the risks ofearthquake disasters in any other countries.
Therefore, I intend to work hard to develop thecooperation between our societies. Finally, I would
like to express my gratitude to MACE for providingme the opportunity to attend the study tour; to JSCEfor granting the Study Tour Award to MACE; toJSCE’s International Affairs Section for organizing
the tour on a high level and to others.
By Tulga Gantumuur（MACE）

The International Symposium on"Approaches for Global Water
Hazard and Risk Managementin the 21st Century"
by Public Works Research InstituteTheInternational
Symposiumon"Approaches for Global Water Hazard and Risk
Management in the 21st Century" which is open to awide range of participants from many regions of theworld was held on the 23rd of January 2004. Thesymposium aims at the discussion of emerging
approaches such as researches and countermeasures,required in the field of water hazard and risk
management in view of present and future trends inthe world, as well as the directions on how Japan
can contribute in the field for the benefit of othernations. To this aim, officials, researchers and toplevel experts from relevant national andgovernmental agencies and research institutions areinvited.
Professor Katsumi Musiake in his keynote
address noted that a major focus of recent world
water problems consists of both “too little water”
and “too much water” issues and proposed thatJapan is dedicated to contribute to mitigating water
disasters problems by making efficient use of its
knowledge and expertise.
After the keynote lecture, the panel
discussion opened with the introduction ofProfessor Kuniyoshi Takeuchi as the chair of thepanel discussion and six panellists, Mr. Akira
Kitagawa (PWRI), Dr. Andras Szollosi-Nagy(UNESCO-IHP), Mr. Avinash C. Tyagi, (WMO),
Prof. Victor Pochat (Universidad del Litoral,Argentina), Prof. Kenji Nakamura (NyARC) andMs. Joanne Linnerooth-Bayer (IIASA) delivered
their opinions and actively discussed world water
related disasters issues. Professor Kuniyoshi
Takeuchi, reviewing this discussion, emphasizedthat the word “coping capacity” for water related
disasters should represent all the views andopinions presented in the discussions, and that it is
an important step to seek the widest cooperationfrom both national and international institutions andprograms.
By Hirotaka Hiyama (CTI Engineering Co., Ltd)

Also available on web: www.jsce.or.jp

JSCE Newsletter No.14,March 2004

“Civil Engineering” Nov. 2003
Feature Article: "Advancement ofGeneral Contractors”

Keiichi Fujita
GEOTECH Corp.

concrete issues, large-scale projects with workorganizations, systems related to construction
technologies certification / qualification, andtechnological exchange with overseas.
The notoriety of the work condition in theconstruction industry has resulted in difficulty incollecting young laborers. As a result, construction
methods were largely rationalized and mechanized.
However, during busy periods, the tendency ofincreasing occupational hazards has been seen.
As urban civil works have markedlyincreased, public hazard issues such as noise,vibration, heavy traffic and ground subsidence
occurred. In 1971, Environmental Standards on
Noise, Wastewater, and Water Pollution wereenacted, requiring various technological measuresagainst hazards. Around 1980, the offshoredevelopment gave birth to the Waterfront Plan, andthe Deep Underground Utilization was announced
around 1985. Thus, the government, the academia,
and the private sectors cooperated to develop
construction technologies. It could be said that thelevel of Japanese construction technology reached a
top level in the world at that time.
However, the 1990s was a period whenconstruction projects were unwelcome and theamount of projects rapidly decreased. Comparing
the two JSCE publications of “Japanese Civil
Engineering History: 1966-1990” (published in1995) and “Infrastructure Development underDecreasing Population: A Design from Expansion
to Contraction” (published in 2002), one issurprised to find the great change in social
circumstances in the 10 years between the twocenturies.
Big changes such as the withdrawal fromthe suburbs into urban districts, which would bring
additional employees into businesses, theestablishment of bases related to energy systems,
lifelines, transportations / distributions, health /safety, and a balancing system between wastes andmaterials will take place. Under such circumstances,the development of construction technologies
related to said facilities will be further called upon.

The progress and the development ofconstruction technologies after the Second World
War was due to the effort to carry out civilengineering projects that respond to the social
needs of the time, to the economic growth, as wellas to overcome strict construction requirements atthe site. This development was made in thedirection of economizing on construction cost andlaborsaving.
The economic stability was largely due tothe construction of Allied Forces base as well as
energy-related facilities such as electric and coal
power plants, and to the special procurement boom
caused by the War (1950-1951) in Korea. Later,
major construction projects by steel andshipbuilding industries followed one after the other.
Such projects were assigned to general contractors
through the bidding including designs proposal,
with the condition that they would be awarded acash reward when they completed the job earlier
than the target date. As a result, general contractorsincreased the number of research engineers andexpenditure in order to develop the technologies toreduce working period (Table-1).
In the background of the construction
technology development, we must not forget theadvancement in civil engineering, other engineering
fields and science, as well as the production andsupply of high performance / high quality
machineries and materials as a result of theindustrial development.
The various opportunities that prompted
the development of construction technologies are
the increase in the amount of projects, lack ofconstruction laborers due to occupational hazards
andtheTable-1: GNP, Construction Investment, Construction Machinery Production, Number of People
Employed, and Research Expenditure in Construction Industry.
perception that
GNP
Const. Inv. C.E. Const. Mach. Prod.
N. of
B/A
C/A
D/B
General Contractors
Inv.
Employed
the public works
121212124
Year
X 10X 10X 10X 10X 10Research
No. ofYEN
YEN
YEN
YEN
Expenditure Researcher
are dirty, harsh
(A)
(B)
(C)
(D)
(E)
%%%
and hazardous,(X 108(People)
YEN)
pollutionand1966
39.6
6.78
2.74
0.11
328
17.4
6.9
1.6
159
1000
environment,
1990
436.93
81.48
29.66
1.82
555
18.6
6.8
2.2
1852
7699
weakened‘90 /’66
1112
10.8
16.5
1.69
1.1
1
1.4
11.6
7.7
Also available on web: www.jsce.or.jp

3

JSCE Newsletter No.14,March 2004

An Arab Engineer Digging his way inJapan

AHMED Saad Eldin MORGAN

Construction ProjectConsultants, Inc
It was the night of February 18th, 1994
when I first arrived in Nagoya airport after a long
journey from Egypt. Since this moment, a new pathfor my life has been drawn; unforgettable days andwonderful memories.
In my first days in Nagoya, I met with Prof.
Junichiro Niwa and Prof. Tada-aki Tanabe, bothprofessors at the Faculty of Civil Engineering,
Nagoya University. Although I was a little relievedby their friendly attitude, I was requested toaccomplish my doctorate degree requirements in avery limited period of 3 years. It was really hard to
do so because I had to work from morning till
midnight every day, seven days a week.
During my doctorate course I publishedmore than 15 technical papers about concrete
structures; these papers were published in top
journals in the world such as JSCE, ASCE, JCI andEngineering Structures Journal in UK. Also, I had
an opportunity to attend and present my work insome international conferences in Japan, Australia,Taiwan and USA.
When I started my practical career inJapan, I was faced with many challenges, and I
tried very hard to overcome them. One of thesechallenges was to acquire a professional
engineering license in the USA. I did get it from thestate of Oregon in 2001 after I passed the required
exams. Also, I was qualified for RCCM (RegisteredCivil Consultant Manager) in Japan.
Because of my involvement in many
construction and consultant companies in Japan, I
had great opportunities to work and acquire anintensive practical experience in many large-scale
civil engineering projects. I was fortunate to workwith very experienced engineers such as Mr.
Yoshihiko Nishigaki of P.S. Corporation, Mr.
Fumio Kamada of Obayashi Corporation, Mr.
Teruya Oota of Izumi Consultant and Mr. Shozo
Inoue of Construction Project Consultants, Inc.
(CPC). I had an intensive experience in prestressed
concrete bridges. I did corrugated steel web girders
bridges, cable stayed bridges, extradozed bridges
and many others. In Obayashi Corporation, I wasinvolved in prestressed concrete LNG tanks. I also
had an opportunity to work for the world largest
upper LNG tank. Adding to my experience inconcrete structures, I worked for steel bridges
design in Izumi Consultant.
Now, I am working in the Overseas
Department at CPC, where I am given anopportunity to develop my practical working
experience not only in Japan but also worldwide. I
like my work at CPC, and I am doing my best to4

become an international engineer that CPC
envisions for me.
Here in Japan, I married my wife in 1997,
and now I have three kids, all born in Japan, whoare very much involved in the Japanese society.
With three kids in one house, it looks like a circus,
and it is hard to get rest. My family and I like
Japanese cuisine, especially sushi although it isvery expensive.
I really appreciate and am grateful to all
Japanese people who have been assisting me tobecome what I am now. I owe a lot to Japan, and I
hope the day will come when I can pay back. With
my Arab background and familiarity with Japanesesociety, I am looking forward to the time when I
can bring Japan and the Arab world closer, despite
our differences, which I personally overcame, andto create for all of us a better world to live.

Call for Abstracts to The Sixth
International Summer Symposium
The International Summer Symposiumprovides a platform for international students inJapan and engineers to present, discuss andexchange their research interest in English.
International students and engineers are strongly
encouraged to participate in the Symposium. (Note:International students and engineers include
Japanese, overseas students and engineers who areinterested in international activities.)
Date: July 31st (Saturday), 2004
Venue: Saitama University
Please refer the details on our website(http://www.jsce-int.org/).

Publications
ARTICLES (From Dec. 2003 to Feb. 2004)
International Information Forum 2003 Part 2 (inJapanese), JSCE, February 2004, CD-ROM, Price:
JPY2,500.-, ISBN4-8106-0404-7
Concrete Library International Vol. 42, 2003.12,
JSCE, January 2004, CD-ROM, Price: JPY3,150.-,
ISSN1347-2119
Structural Engineering Series 14, FRP Bridges –Technologies and their Future- (in Japanese), JSCE,January 2004, Pages 264, Price: JPY4,830.-,
ISBN4-8106- 0445-4
For all orders, contact:
MARUZEN Co. Ltd., Export Department
P.O. Box 5050 Tokyo 100-3199 Japan
Fax: +81-3-3278-9256
E-mail: t_kaneko@maruzen.co.jp
Send your comments, suggestions and contributions
to: iad@jsce.or.jp
JSCE Website: http://www.jsce.or.jp
Editorial Board:
Public Relations Subcommittee,
International Activities Committee, JSCE

Also available on web: www.jsce.or.jp