A Greeting from the President
As president of JSCE, I am greatly pleased to be given this opportunity to share a few of mythoughts with the cosmopolitan readers of International News.
Those of us in the civil engineering profession in Japan find ourselves at a major turning point.
The public has begun to cast a critical eye at the state of social overhead capital that has
increased without pause over the last half-century following the end of the war.
With its sight focused on the 21st century, JSCE is committed to taking an initiative in finding
solutions to such concerns. We are presently identifying which medium- and long-term
directions to pursue and defining specific steps with respect to a range of issues. Our agenda
includes the status of social-infrastructure improvements, ways to better utilize civil engineers,
JSCE's own licensing program for civil engineers, reciprocity with overseas engineer
certification programs, and compliance with various standards and criteria of ISO.
Now that the construction of massive infrastructure has nearly been completed, civilengineers in Japan are expected to proceed with the next generation of government-levelengineering projects. A critical key to making any move in that direction is to begin with atrilateral approach that combines the business world, government circles, and the academic
community. We should then move forward with the strategic development of advanced,
world-class technologies while at the same time considering measures that will facilitate theintroduction of such technologies.
JSCE has signed cooperation agreements with equivalent societies/institutions in 16 countries
and has also established channels for disseminating information concerning civil engineering
technologies in the international community.
A revolution in information technology is currently taking the world by storm. It is my earnest
hope that civil engineers will also get ready for the impact of the IT wave when it evenapproaches the surface of each segment of the construction industry. The members of thisprofession must possess an acumen to reap the benefits of the IT revolution and then apply
them to more sophisticated, strategic technology development that I referred to earlier.
In closing, I would like to share with you a strong sence of responsibility and pride I feel as acivil engineer in moving civil engineering into the 21st century and beyond.

Personal History

Michio Suzuki, the President of JSCE

Mar.1956：Graduated from the University of Tokyo
Apr.1956：Joined the Ministry of Construction
Jun.1989：Vice-Minister of Construction
May.1991：President of Japan Highway Public Corporation
Jul.1998：President of Highway Environment Research Institute15th and 16th International Cooperation Agreements Signed
The Cooperation Agreement between the Institution of Engineers, Bangladesh (IEB) and
JSCE was signed by Prof. Engr. M.A. Hannan, the president of IEB, on Feb.26, 2000 at
Sylhet, where the annual Convention was held. This is the 15th agreement of JSCE withequivalent Societies or Institutions in other countries to cope with globalization in civilengineering. IEB was established in 1948 and just celebrated its 50th anniversary last year.
IEB has around 16,000 members and publishes a monthly journal, “Engineering News”.

The Cooperation Agreement with IEB signed by Prof. Engr. M.A. Hannan (center)

The Cooperation Agreement between Vietnam Construction Association(VCA) and JSCE
went into effect on Apr. 17, 2000. This made the 16th cooperation agreement for JSCE. Mr.
Nguen Hong Quan, the chairman of VCA, signed the Agreement at Heritage Hanoi Hotel.
VCA was set up on Oct. 23, 1982.

The Cooperation Agreement with VCA signed by Mr. Nguen Hong Quan (third from right)
VCA consists of around 300 collective members and 7,000 individual members. VCA journal,“The Builder”, is issued monthly.

JSCE's First and Second International Sections Founded in Taiwan and
Korea
April 19, 2000 became a commemorable day for JSCE as the first international section wasestablished in Taiwan as part of the internationalization strategy of JSCE. The newly-born
section has 26 members. Dr. Okamura, the immediately past president of JSCE, and two
members from International Activities Committee represented JSCE at this commemoration
ceremony. Dr. J. C. Chern, professor at National Taiwan University, was elected as the first
President of Taiwan Section.

Taiwan Section Foundation Meeting
Prof. Okamura, the former president of JSCE,and Dr. Chern(right to left, standing)
Following Taiwan, Korea Section consisting of 100 members was set up in July 2000 withattendance of JSCE President Mr. Suzuki and two other delegates. Dr. H. J. Hwang, thepresident of Dasan Consultants Co., Ltd., was elected as the first President of Korea Section.

Korea Section Foundation Meeting
Mr. Suzuki, the JSCE President, andDr. Hwang(left to right)

JSCE Technical Committee News
-The Concrete CommitteeThe Concrete Committee was inaugurated back in 1930 as the Board of Concrete
Investigation. It has the second longest history in JSCE after the Editorial Committee of JSCE
Journal set up in 1914. Since its birth the Concrete Committee has been primarily working on
publishing the Standard Specifications for concrete technology, such as the Standard
Specifications for Reinforced Concrete (1931), for Plain Concrete (1943), and for Design andConstruction of Concrete Structures (1949). After 1949, the Standard Specifications for
Design and Construction of Concrete Structures have been periodically revised (every 3 to 5
years) and updated with the enormous volunteer efforts by the committee members.
Comprehensive revisions were also made on these Specifications especially on the version
based on the limit states design (1986), and those based on durability performance in 1999.
An English version for the limit states design was also published in 1986.
Besides publication of the Standard Specifications, a series of "Concrete Library" (since1961) and "Concrete Engineering Series" (since 1992) covering various topics have also been
published. These activities mainly rely on the volunteer work of the subcommittees. Current
subcommittees are grouped into 3 categories as follows:
Category 1: Subcommittees that deal with activities contributing to the development of thesociety, public welfare, development of civil and concrete engineering. They are #100:
Steering Committee, #101: Committee for Revision of the Standard Specifications, #107:
Topical Committee on Cold Joint Problems, #108: Topical Committee on Guidelines forConcreting Works for Tunnels, and #109: Format-Making Committee for Durability Database.
The two subcommittees #107 and #108 have almost completed their original tasks and aregoing to organize educational seminars in 2000.
Category 2: Subcommittees consist mainly of taskforces in charge of education andinternational affairs. They are #201: Education Committee, #203: Editorial Committee for the
Journal of Concrete Library International, #204: Committee on International Seminars, #207:
Committee on International Affairs, and #292: Task-force Committee on Concrete Structureswith Externally-Bonded Continuous Fiber-Reinforcing Materials.
Category 3: Subcommittees that are made with purely voluntary efforts to support
advancement of concrete technology and to conduct research on topical problems. These
subcommittees receive only the minimal financial support from JSCE and the research
assigned should be completed within two years.

The Concrete Committee is honored to have the opportunities to provide technical services,
although our activities rely heavily on the efforts and devotion of the committee members.
The future of the committee depends on our ability to provide the latest technologicalinformation to the public by various means. Accordingly, we have started an English
homepage in the internet to timely offer information available from various sources to the
public.
For more information, please visit the following website.
http://www.infra.kochi-tech.ac.jp/shima/jsce/e/index.html

Personal History

Professor Taketo Uomoto,
Chair of the Concrete
Committee

Dr. Taketo Uomoto is a professor in the Center for Collaborative
Research at the Univ. of Tokyo. He received his Doctor Degreeof Engineering from the Univ. of Tokyo in 1981. He is currently
a chairman of the fib Commission 8 "Concrete" and theInternational Committee on Concrete Model Code for Asia.

Very Large Extradosed PC-Steel Composite Girder Bridges Under
Construction－The Kiso River and Ibi River Bridges－
Japan Highway Public Corporation is constructing the Kiso River and the Ibi River Bridges asa part of the New Meishin Expressway that will connect Nagoya and Kobe. The 1,145m long
Kiso River Bridge and the 1,379m long Ibi River Bridge are located approximately 1,300m
apart, crossing the two major rivers near their mouths. The total width of both bridges is 33m,
accommodating 6 traffic lanes. The center and the side spans are over 270m and 150m
respectively for both bridges.

Project Location
The extradosed bridge type with prestressed concrete and steel composite girders was selected
to cope with such long spans, taking economy, construction period and workability into
consideration. An extradosed bridge looks similar to a cable-stayed bridge with a lower pylon,
however, its structural behavior is close to that of a girder bridge. The adopted bridge typeallows more balanced shares of loads between the stay cables and the girders.
To reduce the dead load, a steel girder is used for the central sections of the spans, while highcompressive strength of concrete is fully taken advantage of by having the concrete girder
sections.
Further reduction of the dead load is achieved by placing some of the tendons externallyinside the box girder section, which makes thin webs possible.
The precast segment method is employed for the concrete sections of the girders. Eachsegment with weight of 3000 to 4000 kN is precast using high strength concrete of 60N/mm 2
by the short line match casting method at the fabrication yard located about 10 to 15 km awayfrom the project sites. The segments for the main girders are transported to the sites by sea
and placed into position by large temporary facilities, such as erection noses and erection
trusses except the pier head tables, each of which was divided into three and installed by a6000 kN floating crane. The steel girder sections, which weigh about 20 MN each, are being
fabricated in a factory and will be transported to the sites and erected at one time by reaction
girders attached to both ends of the concrete girders after completion of the concrete segments
installation.
For the substructure, the steel pipe sheet pile foundation type was selected, taking the depth of
the bearing layer and working time available during a single non-flood season into
consideration. The construction of the substructure began in the fall of 1997.
Toward the completion in early 2001, the construction sites are now in their busiest season.
The New Meishin Expressway is expected to serve as one of the major routes of thetransportation network in Japan together with the existing Tomei and Meishin Expressways.
Therefore, the successful completion of these two bridges is the key to further social andeconomic development of Japan.
For more information, please visit the following owner’s website.
http://www.jhri.japan-highway.go.jp/kiso-ibi

The Kiso River Bridge Under Construction

Precast Concrete Girder Segmen

<<CLICK TO ENLARGE>>

JSCE Second International Summer Symposium Held on July 28, 2000
JSCE is extending its activities in the international areas in order to foster mutual
understanding and cooperation between the international community and Japanese
students/engineers. JSCE recognizes that the exchange of ideas among international
students/engineers plays a crucial role in strengthening and reinforcing the core knowledge
and technologies of civil engineering as a whole. In consideration of this, JSCE held the FirstInternational Summer Symposium last year in Tokyo.
The Second Summer Symposium was held at Tokyo Institute of Technology in Ookayama,
Tokyo, on July 28, 2000. The Second Symposium gathered exactly 100 papers and the topics
covered the following 7 areas: (1)Structural Engineering, (2)Earthquake Engineering,(3)Hydraulics, (4)Geotechnical Engineering, (5)Materials, (6)Urban Planning andTransportation, and (7)Environment.

Opening Session
This Symposium puts emphasis on providing opportunities to make network with each otheras well as on the presentation of academic theses. The Second Symposium enjoyedparticipation of 105 international students/engineers and 48 Japanese members. Also, thefollowing presenters were awarded the "Certificate of Excellence" for their excellent
presentations.
Bimal Babu Adhikary (Saitama University), Tara Nidhi Bhattarai (Kyushu University), Sakda
Chaiworawitkul (The University of Tokyo), Ashis Kumar Dey (Nagoya University), Dilum
Dissanayake (Nagoya University), Dushmanta Dutta (The University of Tokyo), Mauliddya
Indah Junica (Tokyo Metropolitan University), Manakan Lertsamattyyaku (Tokyo Institute ofTechnology), Ravichandra Nadarajah (The University of Tokyo), Takahiro Nishida (Tokyo
Institute of Technology), D.G.Tilak Priyadarshana (Saitama University), HellySulistyawan
Putro (Yokohama National University), Anat Ruangrassamee (Tokyo Institute of Technology),
Jun-ichi Sakai (Tokyo Institute of Technology), Troung Hong Tien (Nagoya University),
Xiaofeng Wu (Kokusai Kogyo Co., Ltd.), Wael A. Zatar(Saitama University), Mulan Zhu(Nikken Consultants,Inc.)The Second Civil Engineering Conference in the Asian Region (2nd CECAR)
Scheduled in April, 2001
The 2nd CECAR will be held in April, 2001 in Tokyo, following the 1st CECAR, which washeld in Manila in 1998 and co-sponsored by the Philippine Institute of Civil Engineers (PICE),
the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) and JSCE.

The 2nd CECAR will be organized by the Asian Civil Engineering Coordinating Council(ACECC) and aims to provide opportunities for the people leading the industries,
governments and academia related to the civil engineering technology and the infrastructuredevelopment in the Asian region to exchange information and knowledge. The common goal
for the Asian countries is the“Sustainable Development in the 21st Century”.To achieve thisgoal, the 2nd CECAR will focus upon the following seven main themes:








Innovative Technology and R&D Collaborative Efforts
Regional Framework (Codes, Education and Qualifications)
Construction Management and Funding
Urban & Regional Planning and Construction
Environment and Disaster
Energy and Water Resources
Transportation and Urban Development Systems

The conference will be held at Hotel Metropolitan located in Ikebukuro, Tokyo for two days
and a half from April 16 to 18, 2001. The program includes a keynote address, three special
lectures and more than 50 invited lectures and discussions on the conference themes andtopics. For further information, please visit the following website.
http://www02.u-page.so-net.ne.jp/tg7/cecar/

Information on International Graduate Program in Japan
Should you have a desire to pursue your graduate studies to achieve a further important stepin your career, we would like to give you some hints about the International Graduate
Program in Japan. The program offers advanced professional studies and training of modern
technologies in Japan leading to the degrees of Master and Doctor of Engineering. The
program includes the courses specially designed for international students and class
instructions and supervision are offered in English. Graduation dissertations in English areaccepted.
The program is supported by scholarships provided by the Ministry of Education, Science,Sports and Culture (Monbusho) of the Government of Japan and the Asian Development
Bank (ADB). Currently, five universities and institutes are offering enrollment to the program.
The designated universities and institutes are given in an alphabetical order as; Nagoya
University, Saitama University, Tokyo Institute of Technology, University of Tokyo andYokohama National University. Students from different countries representing almost allcontinents have already enrolled in the program.
Application forms can be obtained through an international student office of each university.
Since the program is highly competitive, screening and peer review of the applicationmaterials are to be done and final recommendations by the concerned departments are givenon the basis of the applicant’s academic qualifications. Should you desire to obtain further
information about the program, please contact the following URL links.


Nagoya University:
http://www.civil.nagoya-u.ac.jp/special/
e-mail: morikawa@civil.nagoya-u.ac.jp

Saitama University:
http://www.civil.saitama-u.ac.jp/fso/fso.html
e-mail:fso@sun.civil.saitama-u.ac.jp

Tokyo Institute of Technology:
http://www.titech.ac.jp/admission.html
e-mail: office@ryu.titech.ac.jp

University of Tokyo:
http://incede.iis.u-tokyo.ac.jp/civil/
mailto:fso@civil.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp

Yokohama National University:
http://www.cvg.ynu.ac.jp/
e-mail: tomo@coast.cvg.ynu.ac.jp

Voice from an International Student
I came to Saitama University in 1997 for my doctoral study on a Japanese Government
scholarship. Coming from a developing country to one of the advanced nations in the world
for the highest academic degree was itself an exhilarating experience. At the same time, there
was a challenge to conduct an independent research after spending more than six years in thefield.
At Saitama University, my research was focussed on strengthening and retrofitting of existing
reinforced concrete structures using externally bonded steel plates and FRP composites. I
carried out a number of experiments and spent many sleepless nights working at numericalmodeling. The successful completion of my research would have never been possible without
encouragement and constant guidance from my supervisor, other faculty members andsupport from fellow laboratory members. Further, excellent research facilities, such as a fully
equipped experimental laboratory, advanced computing as well as readily available reference
facilities are among the other factors, which helped me accomplish my goal smoothly.
I have many favorite memories of wonderful times I spent here and I must say that Japan isreally a fascinating country. I am glad that besides my academic degree, I earned a lot of otherthings from Japan.

Bimal Babu Adhikary,
Nepalese Doctoral Student,
Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering,
Saitama University, Urawa

Book Review
Newly Published Books in English (Period from June 1999 to June 2000)(1) Earthquake Resistant Design Codes in Japan, JSCE, January 2000,171 Pages, Price:¥2,835 (US$38) ISBN 4-8106-0266-4
This book gives lessons learned from the “Hyougoken-Nanbu Earthquake”, comparing theoriginal seismic design codes and the recommended ones. The design codes are applied tohighway bridges, railway structures, port facilities, water supply facilities, and gas pipelines.

(2) Comparative Performances of Seismic Design Codes for Concrete Structures Vol.1&
2, JSCE, 389 Pages, Price ¥10,000 (US$110) ISBN 0-08-043021-X
This book focuses on the comparison of the performance of the revised “Standard
Specifications for Design and Construction of Concrete Structures ? 1991 Part 1 (Design)” of
JSCE Concrete Committee Code with three existing major seismic Design codes in the world,
i.e., USA CALTRANS Code, EURO Code 8, and NEW ZEALAND Code. The book contains
1) General Concept and Design Principles, 2) Earthquake Loading and Analysis, 3) Ductility
Consideration for Single Element and for Frame Structures, 4) Design Method for Shear
Failing Elements, 5) Detailing Consideration, and 6) Comparison of RC Pier Dimensions
Designed by the Four Codes.
(3) Bridges ? Bridges of Tanaka Prize Winner, Kajima Publishing Co., Ltd., 175 Pages.
Price: ¥7,875 ISBN 4-306-02333-8
This book aims to put together the achievement of bridge works and to introduce the various
works of “Bridges of Japan”. The Tanaka Prize winning bridges of the last 30 years have been
selected as reflection of studies carried out by bridge engineers. The book is in handy volume,
properly explaining the well-known bridges and their related technologies with beautiful
photographs.
PeriodicalS in ENGLISH(4) Coastal Engineering Journal Vol. 41 No. 1-4, Vol. 42 No. 1-2, World Scientific
Publishing Co., Ltd., Price US$250 (each volume) ISSN 0578-5634(5) Concrete Library International No 35 (Biannual), JSCE, June 2000, 207 Pages, Price¥2,625 (US$35) ISSN 0913-4913(6) Journal of Hydroscience and Hydraulic Engineering Vol. 18 (Biannual), JSCE, 2000,
193 Pages, Price ¥3,150 (US$41) ISSN 0912-2508(7) Journal of Global Environment Engineering, Vol. 5 (Annual), JSCE, Oct. 1999, 154
Pages, Price ¥6,000 (US$75) ISSN 1341-1268(8) Structural Engineering / Earthquake Engineering, Vol. 17. No. 1 (Biannual), JSCE,
April 2000, 135 Pages, Price ¥2,039 (US$27) ISSN 1341-1268

For all orders, contact:
MARUZEN Co. Ltd., Export Department
P.O. Box 5050, Tokyo International 100-3199, Japan
Phone : +81-3-3273-3234
Fax: +81-3-3278-9256
E-mail: k_itoh@maruzen.co.jp

Your comments, suggestions and contributions to the JSCE International News would begreatly appreciated.
E-mail: iad@jsce.or.jp
JSCE Website(English)：http://www.jsce.or.jp/publication/e/book-e.html

Editors
Chief Editor：Hiroshi Mutsuyoshi (Saitama University)
Editors:•Kanako Iuchi (Pacific Consultants International)•Jun Nobuto (Shimizu Corporation)•Kimio Shimomura (CTI Engineering Co., Ltd.)•Takefumi Takuma (Kajima Corporation)•Ellen Wang (Kindai Sekkei Consultant, Inc)