JSCE Newsletter No.17, January 2005

Japan Society of Civil Engineers
International Activities Committee

NewsletterNo. 17 January 2005

JSCE 90th Anniversary Commemoration
profound and keen thoughts concerning building“ the bright future of the society” expressed in anyof their essays, and received them as useful andmeaningful messages to civil engineers for their
future activities. In order to respond to thesemessages, we will make an effort to carry on better
communication with the general public as an
assignment for the future.

Prof. Masanori HAMADA, Waseda Univ.
Chair of Special Committee for the JSCE 90th
Anniversary Commemoration Projects――――――――――――――――――
Introduction

JSCE celebrated the 90th anniversary fromits foundation in 1914 in November 2004. In
commemoration of the anniversary, JSCE
organized Special Committee for the 90th
Anniversary Commemoration Projects, andarranged various activities with the cooperation
with the special committee. Among those activities
were included holding an essay contest, issuing “theJSCE Journal: Special Edition in Commemorationof the JSCE 90th Anniversary,“ producing
promotional videos of civil engineering andpublishing a brief history of JSCE’s activities in thepast decade, and holding the commemoration
exhibition “Koui Furuichi and His World” and also
special lectures and panel discussions as well as acommemoration ceremony. Some details of these
activities are as follows:

Essay Contest
An essay contest invited all levels of
people from grade school students to adult tosubmit an essay with the topic “ Views of ourtomorrow’s lives.” For each of the category, after acareful review of the submitted essays, selected 4
essays for Highest Excellence, 8 for Second
Excellence and 14 for Excellence.
In the essay contest, a wide range of
people from grade school students up to 77-yearolds participated by submitting an essay. By
reviewing all submitted essays, not only prized ones,
but the ones which were not chosen for prizes witha narrow margin, we learned those participants’
Also available on web: www.jsce.or.jp

JSCE Journal: Special Edition in
Commemoration of the JSCE 90th Anniversary
With full cooperation of the Editorial
Committee on Journal of JSCE, JSCE Journal:
Special Edition in Commemoration of the JSCE
90th Anniversary was issued. In the journal, as the
special feature “Future of civil engineering,”
engineers, consultants, the JSCE members frompublic and private sectors, students and relating
fields had a round-table discussion under the catchphrase “Civil engineers, restore your confidence
and pride as a civil engineer.” They exchanged theiropinions on the tasks to be assigned to the civilengineering field, responsibilities of professional
civil engineers, and future and perspectives of civilengineering. The round-table discussion, which wasorganized aiming at encouraging the younger
members to pursue their future goals as civilengineers, obtained the aim fully. As anotherfeature the journal showed JSCE’s activities in thepast decade along with pictures chronologically andalso featured the article “ JSCE’s next decade,Dreams of the 100th anniversary.” In addition, fivepieces of essay chosen from among the members’
were published under the title ” JSCE’s fulfilled
responsibilities and its future visions.

Commemoration Ceremony
The commemoration ceremony for the
JSCE’s 90th anniversary was held on November 18,
2004 in Tokyo. At the ceremony, the winners of theessay contest were awarded, and also theintroduction of foreign guests and kindcongratulation given by Prof. Soo-Sam Kim,
President of KSCE, were made. Then, thecommemoration speech “ Revitalization of Japan”
was given by Prof. Jitsuro Terashima, the presidentof Mitsui Global Strategic Studies Institute.
Following the speech was the panel discussion heldon under the title “Exploring guidelines on the
future society through reviewing from the past1

JSCE Newsletter No.17, January 2005
social infrastructure” with the coordinator Prof.
Norihito Tambo, who is the headmaster of the
University of the Air. Every panelist of the JSCE
members contributed his/her views, opinions andideas on the ideal civil engineering and the
responsibilities of civil engineering to the society.
The panelists from outside JSCE expressed theirthoughts and expectations of the role to be played
by JSCE. The panel discussion turned out very
productive in laying out the future JSCE.

JSCE Annual Meeting 2004 Report
The 59th JSCE Annual Meeting was heldin Aichi Institute of Technology in Aichi Prefecturefrom September 8th through 10th 2004. The meetingvenue was located near the city of Nagoya, the thirdlargest city in Japan after Tokyo and Osaka. As it
was also located near the 2005 Aichi Exposition
construction site, our overseas guests were able toincorporate technical visits to sites for Linimo(linear motor line) or pavilion constructions.
The Annual Meeting ended in a successfulnote with the total of 19,487 participants and 3,681
papers presented in more than 21 sessions. As inprevious years, the Roundtable Meeting, English
Panel Discussion as well as the International
Reception were held for our overseas guests.

Roundtable Meeting

Invited guests from ASCE, CCES, KSCE, MACE
and JSCE Korea Section

Publishing the Brief History of JSCE
JSCE's activities conducted through from1994 to 2004 are compiled into the brief history of
JSCE “Review the dramatic decade of JSCE.” It iscomprised with mainly two sections: one is theinterviews with the former presidents, and the otherthe brief history “Major events in the past decade.”
In the interviews, the former presidents talked about
their views on the JSCE’s activities on the past ten
years. These interviews are regarded as messages
toward JSCE’s future role to play for the benefit of
the society.
The other feature, the brief history of
JSCE, includes the talks of the former members,
who worked at the forefront in promoting the civilengineering society, under the theme “Major Eventson the Past Decade,” whose topics contains urban
cities’ revitalization and rural cities’ decline, thechanges of public views of civil engineering,examinations of social infrastructure, JSCE’s
activities for natural disasters, JSCE’s philosophy.

On September 8th, the roundtablediscussion was held under the theme of “New
Paradigm of Civil Engineering and the Mission of
Civil Engineers.” Thanks to the wide participation
by delegates from overseas agreement ofcooperation societies, the discussion was a lively
and fruitful one. Delegates from Chinese Instituteof Civil and Hydraulic Engineering (CICHE),
Korean Society of Civil Engineers (KSCE), Thai
Institute of Engineering (TIE) and Nepal Engineers’
Association exchanged their views with JSCE
delegates on this important topic that touches
engineers in all nations.
Delegates reaffirmed that the engineers indeveloped countries share common issues such as
the paradigm shift in the engineering field and theneed to embrace new sense of mission and the
responsibility when the focus of the society has
shifted from rapid development to maintenance andsustainability. However, the discussion also shedlight on the need for the engineers in developing
countries to reaffirm their sense of mission as theleader in promoting sustainable development of
their nations.

English Panel Discussion

Conclusion
With much contribution and cooperationof The Special Committee for the 90th Anniversary
Commemoration Projects, organizers, related
committee members and staff of JSCE, thecommemoration projects, the civil engineeringsociety could sum up its activities during thisdecade. In ten years, the 100th anniversary comes.
Until then, the society have to work on a lot of
assignments given on its shoulders, bringing thewisdom, intelligence and efforts of the member
engineers together, and then will open another doorof further development and enhancement of thesociety.
Before closing this, I would like to express
my deep gratitude for all who contributed their tim
e and efforts to make the commemoration projects s
uccessful. Thank you very much.
2

In the afternoon of September 8th, theEnglish Panel Discussion provided an occasion tocontinue the discussion on the topic of theroundtable meeting. This panel discussion on the“New Paradigm of Civil Engineers and the Mission
Also available on web: www.jsce.or.jp

JSCE Newsletter No.17, January 2005
on Civil Engineers” was chaired by Prof. Shunji
Kusayanagi and was joined by prominent panelists
representing diverse civil engineering sectors andcountries such as Mr. Tadahiko Tazaki, from theOrganization for Road System Enhancement, Mr.
Akihiko Hirotani, from the Oriental Consultants,
Prof. Seigo Nasu from the Kochi University ofTechnology, Dr. Chi-Chou Hsieh, representing
CICHE, Mr. In-Kuin Kim, representing KSCE andProf. Taweep Chaisomphob representing TIE.
By Ryoko Okamoto (JSCE)

Niigata-Chuetsu Earthquake: A Strong
Quake hits Niigata Prefecture3) Derailing of Shinkansen in operation occurred
for the first time in its 40 years of history.
4) The tunnel frame structures were heavily
damaged.
On the other hand, it was encouraging forus, civil engineers that the lessons from theHanshin-Awaji Great Earthquake of 10 years ago
were applied when the conditions in quake-stricken
areas were grasped immediately, the roadtransportation was promptly secured and seismic
reinforcements that were applied to structures suchas bridge piers after the Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake
proved to be effective.
Chuestsu, Niigata

○
Osaka

Tokyo

Pacific

Fig.1-Location of the seismic center (right) andthe distribution of aftershock seismic centers (left.)Photo 1- Collapsed National Road 117 in Ojiya
City（by Dr. Kokushou）
On October 23, 2004 at around 17:56 local
time, an earthquake of M6.8 (provisional) occurred
at a depth of 13km in Chuetsu region in Niigata
Prefecture in northeastern Japan. Strong quake wasobserved in many regional cities such as Nagaoka
City, Ojiya City, Kawaguchi City as well as
villages in rural areas such as Yamakoshi-mura.
The maximum observed seismic intensity on
Japanese scale was 7 in Kawaguchi City. It was
followed by frequent aftershocks as big as 6 upper
on Japanese scale. This chain of earthquakes
claimed the lives of about 40 people and caused
great damages to the houses and infrastructures in
the Chuetsu region.
JSCE organized its first investigation teampromptly after the occurrence and undertook on-site
investigation with the cooperation of the Japanese
Geotechnical Society. This was followed by thedispatch and active research by the second
investigation team and the Kanto Chapter
investigation team.
Some of the characteristics of thisearthquake are as follow:
1) Large scale landslides and slope collapses
occurred because the quake-stricken area was on
active folds from the tertiary system and was
geologically weak, and because the ground was
saturated due to heavy rainfall right before theearthquake occurrence.
2) The damage is prominent in rural mountainous
areas where the population is aged and sparse.
Also available on web: www.jsce.or.jp

By Moriyasu FURUKI (JSCE)

KSCE Annual Meeting
From October 20th through 22nd 2004, theKorean Society of Civil Engineers held their 2004
Annual Meeting at Phoenix Park Resort, locatedabout three hours drive away from Seoul. From
JSCE, Prof. Masatoshi Shidawara of the Aichi
Institute of Technology (JSCE Vice President) and
Mr. Ryuichi Imai of the JSCE Committee on
Information Technology participated.
The international roundtable meeting on
Oct.22nd on the theme of “Civil Engineering in the
Digital World” was chaired by Prof. Ha-Won Songof Yonsei University and was joined by four
panelists including Prof. Shidawara. The discussion
opened with the KSCE presentation about ITS and
GIS and construction CALS/ EC as examples of
informatization efforts in Korea. In his presentation,
Prof. Shidawara proposed the development ofstandard format for data exchange as well as
creationofdigitalized
civilengineering
encyclopedia. The event included an outdoor
banquet on Oct. 21st participated by about 1,900
people as well as a memorable International Dinner
on Oct.22nd.
By Ryoko Okamoto (JSCE)
Based on the report submitted by Mr. Ryuichi Imai

3

JSCE Newsletter No.17, January 2005

ASCE Annual Convention
Again this year, JSCE delegation
participated in the ASCE Annual Convention,
which took place from October 20th through 23rd in
Baltimore Convention Center in Maryland, U.S.A.
The JSCE delegation was composed of President
Morichi, Vice-President Kusayanagi and Mr.
Yumio Ishii, advisor to the International Activities
Committee, JSCE.
At the opening ceremony, the keynote
speech was given by Ms. Marsha Johnson Evans,
the CEO of the American Red Cross. International
events included an international delegation
luncheon with the ASCE board members on the 20th,an International Dinner on the 22nd and an
International Roundtable on the topic of “Technical
Capacity Building in Developing Countries.” Mr.
Ishii introduced the Japanese history and efforts at
capacity building in his presentation. He has also
spoken about the JSCE activities related to ethics
and professional practice during a workshop on“Global Standards of Professional Practice.”

2004 JSCE Study Tour Grant

participated in the JSCE Annual Meeting in Aichi
prefecture and from there, visited Asian Disaster
Research Center, and the Great Hanshin Awaji
Earthquake Memorial Hall among other offices andfacilities in Kobe and the Kansai region.
Despite his brief stay in Japan, we arecertain that Mr. Adhikari’s positive andcommunicative attitude contributed in promoting
the friendship and information exchange between
the two societies as well as among civil engineers
in two countries.
By Ryoko Okamoto (JSCE)

The JSCE-PICE-NCTS Joint
Seminar on Sustainable Urban
Transport Systems
The JSCE-PICE (Philippine Institute of
Civil Engineers)-NCTS (National Center forTransportation Studies, University of thePhilippines) Joint Seminar was held at the Dusit
Nikko Hotel, in Makati City, Metro Manila,
Philippines, on November 6, 2004, on the theme“Sustainable Urban Transport Systems”. The
seminar began with the opening speeches by Dr.
Primitivo C. Cal, National Secretary of PICE, andthen 13 research papers (7 from Philippines and 6
from Japan) were presented. About 80 engineers
attended the seminar and they discussed about the
topics actively and exchanged their opinions. At theend, Dr. Eiichi Taniguchi, Former SecretaryGeneral of International Activities Committee of
JSCE, provided closing remarks.

Mr. Adhikari with the Chairman Hori of the
Scientific Exchange Committee, JSCE
Every year, JSCE International ScientificExchange Fund is used to invite one young civilengineer, nominated by overseas agreement ofcooperation societies to Japan to visit Japanese civilengineering related facilities and to study about thecurrent states of civil engineering in Japan. The
2004 Study Tour Grant was awarded to Mr.
Nagendra Adhikari from Nepal Engineers’
Association who visited Japan from August 30th
through September 15th 2004.
Mr. Adhikari works for the Ministry ofregional development in the project for remote-areadevelopment. He also serves on the board of
directors of NEA and is also active in environmentrelated NGO activities.
In Japan, Mr. Adhikari visited various
research institutions such as the Earthquake
Research Institute of the University of Tokyo,
Public Works Research Institute in Tsukuba,
National Research Institute for Earth Science andDisaster Prevention, and Obayashi Civil
Engineering Research Center as well as someconstruction sites. During his stay, he also
4

Presenters and NCTS Staffs
The seminar was the great success and we
express sincere thanks to Dr.Sigua, Dr.Karl and theother staffs of NCTS who kindly arranged for theseminar.
By Toshio Yoshii (Kyoto University)

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

JSCE Newsletter No.17, January 2005

Report on Civil Structural Health
Monitoring (CSHM) 2004
Hawaii, 10-13 November 2004
1. INTRODUCTION
CSHM-2004 (Civil Structural Health
Monitoring-2004) North American Euro-PacificWorkshop with theme “Sensing Issues in Civil
Structural Health Monitoring” was successfully
held in The Royal Hawaiian Hotel, Waikiki Beach,Oahu, Hawaii, USA from 10 to 13 November 2004.
Over 50 representative delegates from NorthAmerica, Europe and Pacific countries were invited
to participate this workshop (see Photo1).

Photo 1. Commemorative photo of the CSHM-2004
delegates
This workshop was organized by Prof.
Farhad Ansari, Department of Civil and Materials
Engineering of University of Illinois at Chicago(UIC), and supported by an International
Organizing Committee, i.e., Allessandro De
Stefano of Plitecnico di Torino Italy, Wolfgang
Habel of BAM Germany, Hyun-Moo Koh of Seoul
National University Korea, Sung Kon Kim of Seoul
National University of Technology Korea, Aftab
Mufti of ISIS at University of Manitoba Canada,
JinPing Ou of Harbin Institute of Technology Chinaand Prof. Zhishen Wu of Ibaraki University Japan.
This workshop was sponsored by National Science
Foundation (NSF), American Concrete Institute(ACI), National Natural Science Foundation ofChina (NNAFC), ISIS Canada Research Network,
International Society for Structural Health
Monitoring of Intelligent Infrastructure (ISHMII).
There were 11 participants from Japan who were
led by Prof. Zhishen Wu of Ibaraki University
Japan as shown in Photo2.

Photo 2. Participants from Japan led by Prof.
Zhishen Wu of Ibaraki University(upper row, two from right)
Also available on web: www.jsce.or.jp

2. The Essence and aim of CSHM
Structural Health Monitoring of civil
structures requires selection and placement ofsensors suitable for measurement of key parametersthat influence the performance and health of thestructural system. Some of the primary issues ofconcern that impede rapid implementation of sensor
technologies include large size of structures,
diversity of construction materials, need for
multiplexing and distributed sensing, harsh
construction environment, adverse exposure
conditions, long term reliability and durability, andin existence of sensors for measurement of relevant
parameters of importance in civil structures.
The Workshop’s Goal is to develop a coordinatedresearch program addressing issues related tosensor packaging, attributes, construction site andplacement
issues,durability,
reliability,
multiplexing, distributed sensing, standards andspecifications, data acquisition and interrogation
systems. The final products of the workshop will bein the form of a hardbound book detailing the stateof-the-practice, and a comprehensive reportoutlining a detailed plan for research.

3. TOPICS
The topics discussed in the North
American Euro-Pacific Workshop on Civil
Structural Health Monitoring can be summarized
and expressed as follows.
・ Global perspective on Structural Health
Monitoring of Civil Infrastructure Systems
・ Monitoring Issues in Ancient and Modern
Structures
・ Sensing of Loads, Strains, Anomalies, andExtreme Events・ Smart Sensors, Imaging and NDT of Civil
Structures
・ Sensor
Implementation,
Data
Quality,
Processing, and Interpretation
・ Sensors, Instrumentation, Performance, andReliability
・ Fiber Optic Sensors and Principles
・ Long Term Monitoring, State-of-Practice, andCase Studies

4. CONCURRENT TECHNICALCOMMITTEEAt the end of workshop, three concurrent
technical committee meetings were held in
Sheraton Moana Surfrider Hotel on Saturday, 13
November, 2004. Three technical committees were(i) Technical Committee I which was held at Parlor
Room and in charge of Sensor Attributes andPlacement Issues, (ii) Technical Committee II
which was held at The Boardroom and in charge of
Sensor Reliability for Long Term Monitoring, and(iii) Technical Committee II which was held at
Admiral Room and in charge of Standards andSpecifications.
By Sunaryo Sumitro(Keisoku Research Consultant)5

JSCE Newsletter No.17, January 2005

A Professional Walk through
Uncharted Waters of JapanKERATI K.
Transport Planning andManagement Department
Pacific Consultants International

The quest for knowledge has brought me
to experience the best of both western and easternworld. I was born in Nakhonsawan, a small
province in northern Thailand. As a young boy, I
was aspired to become a civil engineer to follow
my father’s footstep. After finishing Junior Highschool, I received a scholarship to study atDamascus High School in Maryland, USA. It wasthere that I experienced foreign country for the firsttime. After that, I return back to Thailand to study
civil engineering at Sirindhorn International
Institute of Technology, Thammasat University.
I first experienced Japan when I received ascholarship from Keidanren to be trained at
Ichikawa-jima Harima Heavy Industry during mysenior year in Thammasat. I was impressed withJapan’s Industrial Technology and its application toenhance safety and comfort of human life. After I
graduated, I took an examination and received the
Monbusho scholarship for graduate study in Japan.
I arrived in Japan for the second time inautumn of 1999. I still clearly remember my firstday at the University of Tokyo. Yellow leaves
fallen from Ginkgo trees spread across pave way
like giant yellow carpet. I met with Prof. Hitoshi
Ieda, a kind and energetic man who became myadviser and counsellor for the next 5 years. I was
also warmly welcomed by several Japanesecolleagues at Transportation Research andInfrastructure Planning laboratory. Thanks to thehelp of Japanese friends and instructors at theuniversity, I eventually learn to adapt to Japanese
language and culture.
It took much effort and determination, but
at the end I was able to complete my Master andDoctoral course. My proudest moment during mygraduate years is when I received the Furuichi
Award for academic excellence upon mygraduation in the master course. I am the first Thai
student to receive the award. I am glad that I wasable to leave good impressions about Thai students
to Japan’s top university.
After I graduated, I join Pacific Consultant
International (PCI) which is one of the leading firmin infrastructure development and planning in Japan.
I am very impressed with the scope and scale ofconsultant projects that accomplished by PCI
worldwide. My boss, Mr. Isamu Gunji and I haveheard about Japan’s ODA and its role ininternational development for a long time, but it ishere that I get the first hand experience and get toknow many dedicated people who strive to improve6

the quality of life in the most remote corner of theworld.
After World War II, Japan was devastatedand its people were left with hardship. The
country’s infrastructure and economy was in worse
shape than many Asian neighbours. However,within 30 years, Japanese people were able torestore and develop their country. Nowadays
Japanese economy is not only the largest in Asia,
but among one of the largest in the world. This is
not a result of miracle; it is a result of the people’s
dedication and innovations.

Today, Japan is the number one
donor in development assistance todeveloping countries around the world. It
is a common view that peace andprosperity can never be brought about bywar, but rather by development andpoverty eradication. I viewed myself as
one among countless product of Japan’s
assistance. Thus I pledge to myself that I
will dedicate my life to the development ofThailand and the developing nations
around the globe.

Publications
ARTICLES (From Sept. 2004 to Nov. 2004)
Concrete Library No.113: Recommendations for
Design and Construction of Ultra High Strength
Fiber Reinforced Concrete Structures-Draft (inJapanese), JSCE, September 2004, Pages 216,
Price: JPY2,100-, ISBN4-8106-0457-8
Concrete Library No. 114: Damage Analysis ofConcrete Structures due to the Earthquakes in 2003
Draft (in Japanese), JSCE, November 2004, Pages
267, Price: JPY3,570-, ISBN4-8106-0456-X
Koui FURUICHI and the Modern National Land
Development in Japan Draft (in Japanese), JSCE,
November 2004, Pages 526, Price: JPY4,200-,
ISBN4-8106-0466-7
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