JSCE Newsletter No.12, September 2003

Japan Society of Civil Engineers
International Activities Committee

NewsletterNo. 12

September 2003

“Civil Engineering” Jun. 2003 Feature Article:“The Prospect for Transportation for Elderly & Disabled in Japan:
Through Comparison with Other Countries.” (Summary)Transportation planning for the elderly &the disabled is not complete by providing taxi andspecial transport services. It is indispensable that
local governments plan it comprehensively,including bus and community-based services intheir considerations.

entered the transportation market. Moreover, inunder-populated areas, several Community Car
Schemes are in place, in which family cars are used
to transport the neighbours who would pay the farethat amounts to the expense of transportation.

３．ST service in Japan
1. Respect for human rights and thechallenges that Sweden met
The Swedish planning is based on theprinciple of “the promotion of the rights of elderly
and disabled citizens and the equality for all.” As aresult, in 1979, special transport service (STservice) started operations in 280 communities
nation-wide, with the government providing 35% insubsidy.
Until 1983, transportation system that fills
the gap between ST service and the regular bus
service did not exist. The service route wasdeveloped for the elderly citizens who could notbenefit from either of the former services. In 1983,
service routes started operation in which thedistances between bus stops, which were previously
approximately 100 meters, were shortened in orderto make it accessible for the elderly.
In 1998, Flex Routes without any set
routes and intended for the elderly also came into
operation also. The Flex Routes were developed inorder to hold down the costs for ST service, whichis already used by 5% of the Swedish population.
The impact of these services for Japan is significant.

2. Cooperation between the public and theprivate sectors for ST services in the U.K
We cannot neglect the roles that volunteer
groups play in ST services in the U.K. In Japan,
according to the Road Transport Law, volunteer
groups cannot receive passenger fares whentransporting the disabled. On the other hand, in theU.K., since the Minibus Act of 1977, volunteer
groups can be reimbursed for the fare, the insurance
and the petrol, when transporting the elderly andthe disabled. As a result, many volunteer groups

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Barrier-free measure for road andtransportation in Japan is by no means inferior to
the international standard. However, Japanese ST
service is well behind its international counterparts.
In order to support the volunteer groups thatrun the ST service for the elderly and the disabled,

the Japanese government is in midst of easing theregulation set forth by the Article 80 of the Road
Transport Law, forbidding revenue transportation
except for the common welfare and disasterprevention.
In recent years, a new system wasintroduced with the support of the nursing careinsurance for the elderly of the Ministry of Health,Labour and Welfare, and the aid for the disabled.
This system allows the elderly and the disabled totake advantage of the transportation systems suchas the taxi by bearing just ten percent of the cost.
The situation surrounding ST services inJapan might be chaotic for the next few years.
However, I have an impression that we have finallymade a step forward towards a new direction of STservices.
References
Matsuo,Nakamura,
Koike,
andAoki:Transportation and Welfare, Bunshindou, Apr.
1996, 61-64.
Akiyama, Tetsuo (ed.): Housing and Transportation
for the Disabled, Nihon Hyouronsya, May 1993,222-225.
By Tetsuo AKIYAMA(Tokyo Metropolitan University)

1

JSCE Newsletter No.12, September 2003

The 5th International SummerSymposium“The Gift for the Future
Everyone loves to receive gifts. However,gifts come in many forms and they are not limited
to something we receive directly from others. As inthe expression, “Gift from the Sea,” a gift could
also be a benefit or a favor from others or theenvironment. In this article, I would like to present
three stories about gifts in this sense that are relatedto our neighbors. Then, I would like to introduce
you to JSCE activities as we enhance ourinternational cooperation.

Opening Ceremony at JSCE Auditorium
TheFifthInternational
SummerSymposium organised by the International
Activities Committee of JSCE (Chair: Prof. S.
Kusayanagi, Kochi University of Technology) was
held at the JSCE Headquarters in Yotsuya, Tokyo,
on 26 July, 2003. The Summer Symposium is held
annually so as to provide an opportunity toexchange information and ideas concerned withvarious aspects of civil engineering amonginternational students and engineers, including
Japanese. The objective of the symposium also
includes the promotion of international exchanges
and mutual understanding between international
communities and Japanese students and engineers.
The Summer Symposium started in 1999 and has
had a high reputation as a valuable opportunity forexchanges among students and engineers in English.
The number of attendants of thesymposium was 128 (international students/engineers: 83; Japanese students/engineers: 19;
chairpersons/keynote lecturer/committee members:26). There were a total of 91 technical presentationfrom 7 areas in civil engineering, including thekeynote lecture given by Prof. K. Tsunokawa,
Saitama University. The technical presentation
sessions were followed by the Get-Acquainted
Reception where there were lively exchanges
between the participants. The "Certificate ofExcellence" was awarded, during this reception, to15 speakers for their outstanding papers andpresentations. The award winners are: Sopon
Ritdumrongkul (University of Tokyo), Ali
Alaghehbandian (University of Tokyo), Kanako
Usui (Tokyo Institute of Technology), Danijel
Kukaras (Okayama University), Mulyo Harris
Pradono (Kyoto University), Paola Mayorca(University of Tokyo), Govinda Raj Pandey(Saitama University), Muhammad Waheed Sarwar(University of Tokyo), Assela Pathirana (ChuoUniversity), Mohammed Fazlul Karim (SaitamaUniversity),
Aliakbar
Golshani(SaitamaUniversity), Pa Pa Win (Saitama University),
Chamroon Tangpaisalkit (Ministry of Transport,Thailand), Riaz Ul-Islam (Saitama University), andXiaofeng Wu (Kokusai Kogyo Co., Ltd.). The
Summer Symposium closed with a promise to meetagain in the Sixth International Summer
Symposium to be held in next year.
By Yasunao Matsumoto(Saitama University)2“I thought Japanese were barbarians…”
The
firststory
isabout
theaccomplishment of a Chinese woman named
CHANG Li Ling1.
She first came to Japan as a student from
China and produced and filmed a documentary
series on Chinese students in Japan. The film was asensation to both Chinese and Japanese audiences
and was one of the most acclaimed programs ofFuji Broadcasting Station since its foundation. An
elderly Chinese man commented, “I thought
Japanese were barbarians but I was wrong.” A
young Japanese did not hide his emotion when hesaid, “ …What was most moving was the attitudesof the students who try to understand Japan and tolive side by side with Japanese. I am so glad to haveseen this show.” The People’s Daily (Japaneseversion), in reporting on the influence of thisprogram in Japan cited an employee of the Japanese
Ministry of Foreign Affairs saying, “For a longtime, Japanese government has worked on
promoting friendship with China, but its influence
is far weaker than that of the program that Ms.
CHANG created.”
Ms. CHANG first came to Japan at the ageof 22. When she graduated from Tokyo Gakugei
University with a Master’s degree, she started
working at Okura Shoji, a trading firm. One day she
approached a Fuji TV producer to borrow a video
camera so that she could realize her long time planof creating a documentary film on Chinese students
in Japan. During the next four years, she filmedover 1000 tapes. With the help of her family andvolunteers, she edited the tapes into 10 episodes
and at the end of 1999, she managed to have them
aired in Beijing. The program was a mega hit inChina. The following year, a part of the program
was aired in Japan under title “A Gift from China”.
Ms. CHANG explains that her motivation for
creating this documentary was to let people in
China know of the hard work and positive attitudeof Chinese people abroad in overcoming language
and cultural barriers. She must have had anotherambition too, which was to wipe out the ignorance
1

I first learned of this in “Gift from China” which wasaired on Dec. 21st 2002 on Fuji TV. Please visit the Fuji
TV website for more details:
http://www.fujitv.co.jp/jp/ryugakusei2/total_top.html

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JSCE Newsletter No.12, September 2003
and misunderstanding that Japanese and Chinesepeople have for each other. I believe this gift from ayoung Chinese has surely shortened the distance
between Japan and China.
“We must apologize to the Japanese?”
Next story was what I heard on the radio (Ibelieve it was on FM Setagaya).
In a bar in South Korea, a group ofJapanese was drinking while talking about soccer.
Overhearing their subject and noticing that they areJapanese, a Korean man approached the group. “Forthe first time, I felt that I must apologize to theJapanese. Japanese people supported Korea during
the World Cup finals but we were applauding when
Japan lost one of their first matches againstTurkey.”
Indeed, there were many Japanese whosupported the Korean team despite the feelings ofrivalry and jealousy. One of the reasons might havebeen the sense of affinity towards our neighbour.
Another reason might be a certain incident, which
many soccer fans might remember. Five years ago,during the qualifying match for the World Cup inFrance, a banner saying, “Let’s go to Francetogether!” appeared in the soccer stadium in Seoul
during Japan vs. Korea match. At that time, theKorean team was already qualified but the Japaneseteam had to either win the match or draw with theKorean team in order to go to France. Eventually,Japan won 2-0 against Korea, but the Japanesepeople have not forgotten the warm blessings ofKorean people at that time. This time, Japanesepeople supported the Korean team as a naturalresponse. It is said that one young soccer fan cameup with the idea of the banner but his action surely
represented the feeling of a large number of young
Koreans. The World Cup Tournament and thepleasant gift from Korean youth enlarged the circleof friendship in the hearts of Japanese and Koreanpeople.
A Civil Engineer who represents the spirit ofJapanese people.
The third story is about a civil engineer.
The front page of the morning edition of Sankei
Newspaper on November 19th 2002 was devoted tothe script of a lecture by Mr. Li Teng Hui, which
was supposed to take place at Keio University. Itnever took place because his visa to Japan was notissued. Surprisingly, its content from beginning toend was about Yoichi Hatta 2 , a Japanese civilengineer who made a great contribution in Taiwan
before the World War II. Mr. Li’s message toJapanese youth in this lecture was the spirit ofpublic service, which Japanese people once2

Detailed information can be found in “Taiwan woAishita Nihonjin” by FURUKAWA Katsuzo (AobaPublishing: 2002). For a brief history, please refer to anarticle by FURUKI Moriyasu, which appeared in Civil
Engineering “About Engineer Hatta and Wu Shan Tou
Dam”(JSCE: Vol.87, 2002.5) or to an article by JSCE
titled “Hatta’s dream that flourished in Chianan River”(Civil Engineering, Vol.88, 2003.1)

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possessed and which is represented by theundertaking of Yoichi Hatta. Mr. Teng Huidescribed this as the spirit of Japanese people.
Yoichi Hatta was greatly influenced by thevirtues of Isamu Hiroi while he was a student at theCivil Engineering Department of the Tokyo
Imperial University and in 1910, upon graduation,
he entered the government-general of Taiwan.
There, he worked on a great civil engineering
project to turn the Chianan plains in the southern
region, which was suffering an extreme poverty atthat time, into a rich farmland. The project was toconstruct the Wu Shan Tou dam, the largest dam in
Asia at that time and to build waterways as long as
16000km. This project, which required 10 years forcompletion, improved dramatically the lives of thepeople. Engineer Hatta, who treated everyone with
fairness and who led this project to completion wasadmired and appreciated by all. He was always
remembered after his death at the battlefield. Even
today, 60 years after his death, Taiwanese people
hold annual memorial service at the grave by thedam where Engineer Hatta lies with his wife.
Engineer Hatta’s high aspiration createdthe fertile plain, a gift to the Taiwanese people. Butat the same time, it has turned out to be a precious
gift to Japanese people beyond time and space.
Our gift
We are blessed with many gifts and ourduty now is to create a better future by adding newthings to the gifts we have received so far. As thelast story in this article, I would like to introduce
the contribution of JSCE, as the organization
responsible in building the foundation for a betterfuture.
Next year, the 3rd Civil Engineering
Conference in the Asian Region (CECAR) will beheld in Seoul for four days starting from August
16th 2004. CECAR is alternately hosted by theconstituentsof
Asian
CivilEngineering
Coordinating Council (ACECC), which is operated
by Japan, Korea, and Taiwan as its main members.
Once in every three years, CECAR provides anoccasion for civil engineers and researchers toexchange information. The last conference was heldin Tokyo.
Asian researchers and engineers havecountless issues in common which must be dealt
with in cooperation. In technical fields, yellow dust,
urban environmental pollution, marine pollution,and the future of technical cooperation are just afew examples from the heap of problems that wemust tackle together. I hope that in the future,tangible results will be seen in CECAR and inACECC activities. At JSCE, it is our dream thatsuch structures and their activities would be our gift
to the Asian people and to the next generation.
By Moriyasu FURUKI(Executive Director, JSCE)First appeared in No. 724 (March 2003) of “Kokkenkyo
Jyoho,” from the Infrastructure Development InstituteJapan.

3JSCE Newsletter No.12, September 2003

Foreign Engineer Trying to Fit intothe Japanese Society

strong encouragement and from second year
onwards, I could be involved more deeply in mystudy and research works.
For the past 10 years, I live in a beautiful
apartment in the Tokyo suburb, surrounded by agarden with fruit trees on both sides. I wake up
everyday looking at the greenery before myapartment and you cannot ask for anything more. It
can be called a ‘dream comes true’.
C.Murugaboopathi(Pacific Consultants International Ltd.)New E-Friend Registration System
C. Murugaboopathi
Studying and working in foreign countries
was a distant dream during my university days inIndia, and I never thought even once that I would
have an opportunity to work and live in Japan for
more than 10 years. When I pursued my Master ofEngineering Studies at the Asian Institute ofTechnology, Thailand, I was lucky enough to meet
my Japanese professor, who was God’s angel tochange the course of my life to a better direction
until today.
After I completed my PhD in theUniversity of Tokyo under my Japanese professor, I
joined Pacific Consultants International (PCI) in1989. After working in PCI for one year as anAssociation of Overseas Training (AOTS) trainee, I
worked as a post-doctoral researcher at North
Carolina State University, U.S.A for two and halfyears and then returned back to Japan in November
1992.
Since then, I have been working in PCI for
more than 10 years and I have been involved invarious international irrigation and agriculturaldevelopment projects in Brazil, Bangladesh,
Malaysia, Indonesia, Iran, Paraguay, and Sultanateof Oman. While I improved my ‘field applicationand practical knowledge’ through my international
consultancy work, I have been really fortunate towork in countries of different environments
including desert areas of Oman, Brazilian Amazon
rainforest and to work with people of differentculture.
All of these project/study works have been
carried out by the assistance of Government ofJapan. In these projects, I was one of the membersof the project/study team, which not only involvedin the implementation of the studies/projects, butwere also engaged in the technical transfer to thecounterparts of the recipient countries. Apart fromthe technology transfer, the Japanese engineers arealways excellent examples for their sincerity andhard work.
When I first came to Japan in 1985,
everything looked completely new and ‘sayonara’
was the only Japanese word I knew at that time.
Like most of the foreign students at that time, thefirst year stay in Japan was the most difficult period
including language difficulty, finding an apartment,etc. But, my Japanese professor and others gave me4

The new e-friend system is not limited tocurrent JSCE members but is open to those who areliving abroad and to international students studyingin Japan. This system allows us to send out usefuland timely information that does not limit itself toJSCE news. Please find more details on our website
at: (http://www.jsce.or.jp/english/)
As we recruit new e-friends, we are also
asking them to participate in a survey in order toreflect their opinions in the future of the e-friend
system. Currently, we have received a relatively
large number of responses showing interests in theinformation on civil engineering projects in Japanand in Asia, international conference information,and JSCE publication information. Some e-friends
are willing to provide current topics from theircountries and we intend to examine the possibilityof asking them to contribute articles in ourNewsletter in the futurePublications
ARTICLES (From June to August 2003)
Design and Construction of Long Span ConcreteArch Bridges – the 600m class span- (in Japanese),
JSCE, August 2003, Page 273, JPY3,000.-,ISBN4-8106- 0447-0
International Information Forum 2003(in Japanese),
JSCE, June 2003, CD-ROM, JPY2,500.-, ISBN48106-0393-8
Concrete Library International No.41, JSCE, June
2003, CD-ROM, Price: JPY3,150.-, ISSN 13472119
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