2018. 4. 2

Japan Society of Civil Engineers
International Activities Center

IAC News No.66
Looking Back at FY2017 and
Forward to a More Fruitful FY2018
FY2017 was another dynamic year for JSCE International Activities Center (IAC).
IAC News, which is the main IAC scheme for information dissemination, launched
a new column, “Alumni of DOBOKU Series.” The columns are contributed byformer international students in Japan, accompanying the short message by theirsupervisors. The columns clearly show that supervision of excellent students is avery efficient way to keep strong connection in various senses with the countries
where students come from. Needless to say that the benefits stretch beyond theprofessor-student relationship to cover both the students’ home country and Japan.

Tamon Ueda
Senior Director, IAC

The exchange activities with JSCE’s partner institutions with Agreement of
Cooperation (AOC) have made some new steps in FY2017. Following the establishment of IAC, JSCE has
started exchange activities with AOC institutions mostly in developing countries. However, in FY2017, JSCE
not only participated in the ASCE Convention as usual, but also sent the delegates twice in the MLIT’s mission
to USA to discuss with ASCE on issues of mutual interest such as management for maintaining infrastructures.
With the similar purpose, JSCE will send the delegates headed by President Ohishi to Germany and UK in April
2018. It is undeniable that developed countries show less interest in exchange activities with JSCE compared todeveloping countries. However, the lack of interest varies among different fields of civil engineering. For
example, The International Federation for Structural Concrete (fib), in which European countries are rather
dominant, eagerly asks for participation of the Japanese counterparts, Japan Concrete Institute and Japan
Prestressed Concrete Institute. I hope that the JSCE mission to Germany and UK could find out the reason of
the difference.

The relationships with our neighbor countries have recently added a new direction. Both the China Civil
Engineering Society (CCES) with headquarter in Beijing and the Chinese Institute of Civil and HydraulicEngineering (CICHE) with headquarter in Taipei have started regular joint symposium and workshop with JSCEin 2016, respectively. CCES consists of many institutions operated quite independently. Consequently, JSCE-

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CCES Joint Symposium has been organized by Institutions in CCES and the counterpart Committees in JSCE,
which are related to the symposium theme. The 1st Joint Symposium in 2016 was organized by the CCES
Institutions and JSCE Committees in tunneling and bridge engineering. On the other hand, JSCE-CICHE Joint
Workshop is organized rather directly by both headquarters. This means that the headquarters of both CICHE
and JSCE have direct leadership over various activities, including international activities. JSCE-CICHE Joint
Workshop has put emphasis on participation of young engineers and researchers.

The new attempt of the educational program for Japanese engineers/students was the e-learning. As the first trial,
the life-televising through internet was used in the popular series of symposium, “Japanese Civil Engineers the
Global Leaders Symposium Series.” Audiences in Osaka and Nagoya were able to participate in the seminar
held in Tokyo. We still have several issues to solve before launching e-learning for the seminar, however webelieve that this is the way we should take.

The schemes relating to international students have been steadily enhanced since the establishment of IAC in2012. Besides International Summer Symposium, which started before 2012, International Workshop for Young
Engineers, Technical Excursion, Joint Company Information Session in Civil Engineering for International
Students, and Associate Membership have been started by IAC. These schemes except for Associate
Membership are primarily meant for international students in Japan. Associate Membership is meant for JSCE
to continue to provide services even after the international students have left Japan. Associate Membership does
not require any membership fee, but is given almost all the benefits as regular member except monthly journal
subscription. We encourage the international students to join Associate Member.

For FY2018, IAC will continue to strengthen the exchange activities with AOC Institution in developed countries.
CECAR8 in April 2019 in Tokyo will be the big event for IAC since JSCE is the host. IAC will be the coorganizer of one session, “Comparative Study of Quality Infrastructure in Europe, the United States and Asia
and Civil Engineer’s Contribution.” By integrating International Panel Disucssion during JSCE2018 and
CECAR8’s organized session, IAC hopes that the exchange activities with the US and Europe would be firmly
developed in a continuous way. Other activities related to information dissemination, educational program, andservices to student will be also enhanced in FY2018. We look forward to your continuous support andcontribution.
【Reported by Tamon Ueda (Hokkaido University), Senior Director, IAC】

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My View of Principles and Approaches toInternational Communication
JSCE has been taking several approaches toward internationalization by building
agreement of cooperation with overseas counterparts, international sections, andInternational Activities Center (IAC), and developing its activity accordingly,
following the wave of economic and business globalization. I have been working
to improve JSCE’s international activity with the International Activities Center
since the appointment of a Board of Director in charge of the International Section
last year. I had the opportunity to have discussions with the International Section
members at the JSCE Annual Meeting held at Kyushu University last year.
Yutaka Sunohara
Board of Director, JSCE

In my professional career from the year 1975 when I joined Ministry of Transport(the predecessor of Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism: MLIT) to the year 2009 when I
retired from the MLIT, I have worked on port, harbor and airport affairs. My overseas affiliation started with myparticipation in Mexico-Japan Exchange Program for Strategic Global Partnership through July 1979 to May
1980: on that program, I received training at Universidad de Guanajuato in Mexico. The City of Guanajuato,
which flourished as silver mining, is one of the popular tourist destinations in the world and was designated asa UNESCO World Heritage Site for the old colonial-era urban view preserved and silver mines surrounding thecity. During my stay there, Mr. Yoshio Takeuchi (81st JSCE President, deceased in 2011), the then-president of
The Overseas Coastal Area Development Institute of Japan (OCDI) visited the city as a Federal Government of
Mexico-designated advisor on coastal development and planning, and I was given many opportunities toaccompany him to discussions with high-level government officials, field studies and others. Then, from 1987
to 1989, I was transferred on a job assignment temporarily to the OCDI and engaged in the projects of overseas
ports, harbors and coastal area development. In the meantime, I learned the developing policies of ports, harbors,
airports and urban areas in Spain, working with Ministry of Public Works and Transport in Spain as a trainee ofDispatching Training conducted by National Personnel Authority from September 1983 to April 1984. The
experiences and knowledge that I gained on those days have provided the benchmark for pursuing myprofessional career. After I left the ministry, I have been giving my time to developing ports, harbors and ocean
routs and improving the use of those facilities in cooperation with civil engineers overseas and to cultivating
young professionals as well.
I, utilizing my experience and knowledge, am developing and strengthening the communication and cooperation
between JSCE and its overseas counterparts; I for example will take the challenge of building communication
with JICA trainees in the areas of road, river, port and harbor, and railway engineering under the theme social
infrastructure development, employing a multiple perspective and a multi-level approach.
【Reported by Yutaka Sunohara (The Ports and Harbors Association of Japan), Board of Director, JSCE】
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【Alumni of DOBOKU Series】“Study in Japan: one period of precious and indelible life
experience”
Qiang TANG
Associate Professor, Institute of Geotechnical Engineering, Soochow University
My Ph.D. journey began after my flight landed at Osaka Kansai International Airport on
October 5, 2010. At that moment, I still could not believe that I had been awarded
Monbusho scholarship, and I would study at Kyoto University, Japan to pursue my Ph.D.
degree. My predestined affinity with Japan started in 2008, when I prepared my masterthesis on the topic of soil-water contaminant interaction. After a thorough literature
review, I found that many significant studies of this topic were from the Katsumi’s lab in
Kyoto University. I was deeply impressed by the achievements of Professor Katsumi in
Qiang TANG

geo-environmental engineering, and I started inquiring the chances to join in Professor Associate Professor,
Katsumi’s team for my Ph.D. study. I was excited that I received a positive response from Soochow University
Katsumi Sense when we met at one international conference in 2009. After that, I started
applying for the Ph.D. program of Civil and Environmental Engineering from Kyoto University. After the initial
selection and two rounds of interviews, I eventually received the admission letter from Kyoto University.
The time of my study in Japan flew by so fast. I obtained my Ph.D. degree on September 24, 2013 and went
back to my home country, China. Although I stayed in Japan for three years, I firmly believed that this period
would deeply influence the rest of my life. This impact would not only reflect in the promotion of myprofessional skill, but also exist in my value judgment system. It was deeply impressive that Japanese professors
always have two typical academic natures: concentrated research interests and a detailed guide in experimental
operation:(1) Concentrated research interests.
Herein, I prefer to take my supervisor Professor Katsumi as an example. Katsumi Sense’s research topic ishydraulic behavior of bentonite and its composite materials. After more than 15 years’ accumulation, Sense
expanded studies within his field: micro- and macro structures of bentonite, physical and chemical properties,
hydraulic behavior towards specific contaminant, response of hydraulic behavior under time factor, soilbentonite/sand-bentonite mixture, construction technology of soil-bentonite cut-off wall, as well as theexperiment and mechanism about soil-water-contaminant interaction. Because of such great perseverance,
Professor Katsumi has already stood on the peak of this research field. “Do it well or not at all!” Such a creed
gradually became rooted in my mind during my stay in Japan.
(2) Detailed guide in experimental operation.
Stepping into the Katsumi’s laboratory, I was greatly astonished by Sense’s management style. Sense prepareddetailed operational instructions for almost all the instruments, which facilitates the students to operate those
instruments independently. Such kind of detailed instructions can be found not only in the laboratory, but also in4many other places in Japan, such as bus, supermarket, and restaurant. This concept improves the efficiency of
the whole society, and maybe this is why Japan always leaves a well-organized impression to most of worldwide
tourists.
The Ph.D. project I involved was G30 program supported by Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports,
Science and Technology (MEXT). At Kyoto University, G30 program was combined with some specific training
programs, among which I belonged to Environmental Management Leadership program (EML). According torequirement of EML, the graduate students are required to complete a 6-month internship in researchorganizations or companies. In my opinion, the fostering proposal for Ph.D. here was unique, since it uniquely
took “academic communication” and “link theory with practice” into account. During my stay in Japan, it tookme 5 months in National Institute of Environmental Studies (NIES, Tsukuba) to help conduct a series of labscale experiments, and 1 month in Okumuragumi Corporation to visit more than 10 various types of construction
projects. Such a precious experience trained me how to conduct research in a more feasible and rational way.
“People always grow up in adversity!” This old saying
is also suitable for graduate students. As a Ph.D.
candidate, one has to know more, consider more, learn
more and do more. My capacity for academics grewwith leaps and bounds during my Ph.D. study. This wascertainly a result of the intensive labor and study
required to succeed in my program. I still rememberedtheexperiencefor

conducting

thehydraulicconductivity test continually for almost 120 hours with
only 10 hours of sleep. It was also impressive that Together with International Students during Katsumi’s Lab’s
Summer Trip (The author is the third from the right)

graduate students’ office became “an exclusive Ph.D.

students’ office” every weekend. Sometimes Ph.D. candidate students would feel confused and depressed whenpuzzled by serious research challenges, some of which the supervisors might not know the exact solutions. At
that time, the literature was usually the last straw to clutch.
After graduation, I got the faculty position in Soochow University, China, and continued the geo-environmental
engineering research following my Ph.D. thesis. Now I am the principal investigator of several research projects.
One project was about heavy metal soil remediation which cooperated with Japanese DOWA environmental
engineering company. In this project, one effective adsorbent was used to fix aqueous Cd (II), finally to preventthe migration of Cd(II) from soil to paddy (rice). Both the lab-scale and pilot scale tests were conducted to provethe efficiency of the proposed method for further promotion in the future. The project was funded by Jiangsu
Provincial Department of Housing and Urban-Rural Development.
Five years have passed since my Ph.D. graduation, while the memory about studying abroad in Japan has not at
all faded. Even now, I still keep in close touch with my supervisors, Katsumi Sense, Inui Sense etc. The life inJapan has become my spiritual sustenance, and Japan is deemed as my second homeland.
Profile: Dr. Qiang TANG obtained his bachelor, master and doctoral degrees in engineering in Southeast University (China),
Zhejiang University (China) and Kyoto University respectively. His research focuses on geotechnical and geo-environmental

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engineering field. He is a voting member of Chinese institution of Soil Mechanics and geotechnical Engineering (Environmental
Geotechnics Division and Young Engineer Work Committee).

《Column》Takeshi Katsumi, Professor, Kyoto University
One of the unforgettable memories with Dr. Tan was that the Great East Japan
Earthquake occurred when he was doing his internship at National Institute forEnvironmental Studies, Tsukuba in March 2011. He sent me an e-mail full of realisticpresence, saying “Sense, it was very terrible,” which made me revealed that he was safe.
He joined our laboratory after completing his Master’s degree in Zhejiang University in
China. In the field of geoenvironmental engineering we are working on, I believe that
Zhejiang University is the leading university. One of his great contributions was to create
our first step in collaboration between two laboratories of Zhejiang University and Kyoto
University.
※Alumni of DOBOKU Series is in collaboration with Editorial Committee of JSCE Magazine.

JSCE UK Section Report
On 28 November 2017, the author gave a presentation
entitled “Bridges in Japan” at the evening technicalseminar organised by the south eastern counties regionalgroup of the Institution of Structural Engineers (IStructE).
This short article summarises what was presented at thisseminar.
The author agreed to give a talk on the topic related toJapanese bridge design and engineering since civilengineers in UK were not familiar with this topic, and theauthor wanted to assist Japan’s initiative to export their Presentation at the Evening Technical Seminar
civil engineering infrastructure system outside the county.
The theme of the presentation was the “Galapagos Syndrome” observed in the Japanese civil engineering
industry, which was a challenge to be overcome in order for Japan to promote their civil engineering
infrastructure system outside the country. The presentation started off comparing endemic species living in the
Galapagos Islands with high-performance mobile phones developed in Japan which have no compatibility(“Galapagos” mobile phones) with smart phones elsewhere in the world. Then, the following were listed asreasons for the Galapagos syndrome associated with Japanese bridge engineering;•

Large domestic construction investment in Japan in the past (limiting overseas projects)•

Language barriers•

Unusual environmental constraints such as steep mountains, poor ground condition, and high seismicity
and high population density

After the explanation of the “Galapagos Syndrome”, a number Japanese bridge engineering technologies such6

as those for shallow depth girders, composite structures and seismic engineering, were presented to the audience.
Furthermore, bridge design projects in which the author was involved in Japan were also presented. In the final
part of the presentation, customs for Valentine’s Day and Halloween in Japan were also introduce to the audienceas they were considered to be the “Galapagos syndrome” associated with Western culture in Japan. The author
also revealed how he enjoyed Christmas at work in costumes (see the photo above), which brought lots oflaughter to the audience.
It appeared that most of the technologies introduced in thepresentation were not known by the attendees; many queries andpositive comments were received. The author ensured strong interestin Japanese technologies from the audience in general – however theauthor was at a loss for an answer to the following question: “How do
you adopt these advanced technologies from Japan in our UK civilengineering projects, is there any good way forwards?”. The adoptionof Japanese technologies in UK projects may not be straight forwards;
however, the strong interest from UK engineers in Japanese bridge
technologies shows potential for the future. If the Japan Society of
Civil Engineers (JSCE) can exchange their engineers and technicalinformation more with their International counterparts such as the ICE
and the IStructE, this should enable Japanese civil engineering
technologies to be promoted more widely outside the country. I would
hope to see that the “Galapagos syndrome” associated with Japanese

The author won the Regional Group Prize 2017civil engineering to gradually diminish in the future through the
JSCE’s efforts.
【Reported by Daisuke Saito (Mott MacDonald), President, JSCE UK Section】

Japanese Civil Engineers the Global Leaders Symposium Series No.11“The Construction of Osman Gazi Bridge in Turkey –A Suspension Bridge with One of the World’s Longest Center Span”
The 11th symposium hosted by the Project Group of the International Activities Center
was held at the Auditorium, the JSCE Headquarters on January 24, 2018. Its program is
as follows: Engineers from IHI and IHI Infrastructure Systems gave presentations on thestory behind and an outline of the construction of Osman Gazi Bridge, a huge suspension
bridge across Izmit Bay located 70 km southeast of Istanbul, Turkey. A video of thesymposium was live-streamed for the first time to satellite venues in both Nagoya andOsaka with the support of the Chubu Branch and Kansai Branch. Four people in Nagoya
and 11 people in Osaka attended and enjoyed watching the video, while 93 people
participated in Tokyo.
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Kiyoshi Watariguchi(Maeda Corporation)

- Opening Speech
Asao Yamakawa, Acting Senior Director, International Activities Center, JSCE
- Introduction of IHI Infrastructure Systems Co., Ltd.
- Initiatives of IHI Infrastructure Systems Co., Ltd. in Turkey
Akiho Ando, IHI Infrastructure Systems Co., Ltd.
- The Construction of Osman Gazi Bridge in Turkey (General Overview and Designing)
Takanori Shima, IHI Infrastructure Systems Co., Ltd.
- Break- The Construction of Osman Gazi Bridge in Turkey (Manufacturing and Erection)
Shinjirou Seki, IHI Infrastructure Systems Co., Ltd.
- Actual Experiences of a Young Japanese Civil Engineer in Turkey
Mototsugu Ono, IHI Infrastructure Systems Co., Ltd.
- Engagement of IHI Group with Overseas Infractructure Projects
Ryutaro Yoshinari, IHI Corporation- Q & A session- Summary - Challenge to Worldwide Bridge Constructions Takeshi Kawakami, President, IHI Infrastructure Systems Co., Ltd.
- Closing Speech
Takao Kakei, Director of Project Group, International Activities Center, JSCE

Izmit Bay is a narrow bay that extends as far as 40 km
eastward from the Marmara Sea. This has been a major
obstacle to traveling from Istanbul to Izmir, the thirdlargest city in Turkey. The new 3-km-long bridge has
reduced the traveling time taken to cross the Bay from 90
minutes by land and 60 minutes by ferry to just 6 minutes.
When the expressways at both ends are completed, thetime between Istanbul and Izmir will be reduced from 10hours to 3.5 hours. The project will have a very large
Participants attentively listen to the presentation at theeconomic impact. With a total bridge length of 2682 m and JSCE HQ, Tokyo
principal span of 1550 m, it is the fourth longest
suspension bridge in the world.

Construction started in January 2013 and was completed in June 2016, a surprisingly short period: converted totime per span length, it was the world’s fastest construction of a suspension bridge. Two factors contributed tothat result. First, the 420-km expressway including this bridge is being built under a BOT (build-operate-transfer)framework of 22.3 years, so rapid completion was desired. Also, the Government acted promptly throughout theentire process; such speedy construction may have been impossible in any other country.
Other characteristics of the bridge include a design service life of 100 years and a dynamically advantageous
design realized by changing the angle of the main cable with the side span legs. In addition, IHI pulled out cables
using horizontal reels, which have not been used in Japan. Also, under the BOT contract, the Turkish
Government guaranteed to cover the payment of shortfalls if the traffic volume would not reach 40,000 vehicles.

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Presentations were made by Mr. Akiho Ando, Mr.
Takanori Shima, Mr. Shinjirou Seki, and Mr. Mototsugu
Ono of IHI Infrastructure Systems, and Mr. Ryutaro
Yoshinari of IHI. At the end, President Takeshi Kawakami
of IHI Infrastructure Systems summarized the project.
All the presenters talked in a neutral tone, but in reality,
they successfully opened the bridge after overcoming
many obstacles such as accidents and leakages during
drilling. It was also interesting to note that Japan’s Mr. Takeshi Kawakami at the Q&A session
technologies for large suspension bridges, which wereacquired at the time of construction of the Honshu-Shikoku Bridge, have been maintained and advanced in thedesign and construction of bridges in other countries.
After the symposium, participants exchanged opinions in another room while eating snacks.
【Reported by Kiyoshi Watariguchi (Maeda Corporation), Project Group, IAC】

Updates◆The 20th International Summer Symposium in Hokkaido, August 29 and 30, 2018
http://www.jsce-int.org/node/538◆CECAR8 Online Registration (Early Bird): June 1 – Jan 31, 2019http://www.cecar8.jp/◆Asian Civil Engineering Coordinating Council (ACECC) International Newsletter archives
http://www.acecc-world.org/newsletter.html◆Online Museum of Civil Engineering “DOBOHAKU –Tokyo Infrastructure Anatomy –” (English ver.) is now
open.
http://www.dobohaku.com/tokyo/en/◆Concrete Committee International Newsletter No. 53 will be released soon!
http://www.jsce.or.jp/committee/concrete/e/newsletter/newsletter53/◆Journal of JSCE
https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/browse/journalofjsce◆The International Infrastructure Archives– A Compilation of Japan’s Greatest Projects in Transfer of Civil Engineering Technology in Service –http://www.jsce.or.jp/e/archive/◆IAC “News Pick Up!!” on the JSCE Japanese website
http://committees.jsce.or.jp/kokusai/node/118◆Summary of feature articles in JSCE Magazine Vol. 103, No. 4, April 2018
http://www.jsce-int.org/pub/magazine◆IAC Students and Alumni Network
http://www.jsce-int.org/IAC_network

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