No.31
May 1, 2015

No.27

Pursuing globalization through the JSCE’s
International Scientific Exchange FundThe globalization of people, goods, information, and moneyis accelerating as a result of remarkable advances ininformation
communications
technologyandtransportation. While the world market for industrial
products is expanding, Japanese products have been
losing global share. In the civil engineering field also,
there are concerns that the global presence of Japanesecompanies is declining. To counter these trends, Japan’s
entire civil engineering sector must strive to further
internationalize by disseminating information in English,
curbing the downward trend in the number of civilengineering graduates to seek employment outside thecivil engineering field, and improving the ability ofJapanese engineers to adapt to different cultures.
Established as commemorative project for the JSCE’s 75thanniversary, the JSCE International Scientific Exchange
Fund was set up to promote civil engineering and civilengineering technologies. From the onset, the fund has
operated as an independent charitable trust. Between
1990 and 2014, about ¥160 million was provided topromote JSCE’s international activities, such as
international conferences hosted by the JSCE, visits toJapan by people from partner societies overseas, andFund-hosted joint seminar with overseas societies

IAC News No.31, May 1 2015

Yoshihisa Kawahara
Vice President, JSCE

academic exchanges of Japanese and foreign civilengineers.
To further promote rapid globalization, the fundcommittee is looking beyond simply hosting projects inother countries. The committee is considering funding
mainly the projects which help civil engineers to networkand build collaboration with each other across borders andpromote JSCE’s international sections to be recognized asa contact point between Japanese and local civil engineers.
Such projects provide opportunities for young students
and engineers overseas to learn about Japan’s
cutting-edge civil engineering technologies and activities.
Three years have now passed since the InternationalActivities Center was established. By regularly reviewing
the relationship between the JSCE’s international
strategies and the fund, we will ensure that thefund-subsidized projects are effective. We also will work
more closely with civil engineers in foreign countries andwith the Japanese staff for the subsidized projects. The
fund committee looks forward to hearing your opinions
and suggestions concerning the fund.

Fund-subsidized site tour

FY 2014 JSCE Joint Workshop “The 1stVietnam-Japan International Workshop for
Sustainable Ocean Tourism Development andDisaster-Environmental Risk Management”

and recent major coastal disasters in the neighboring
countries. The seminar was also broadcasted by a national
television on the evening of that day, showing the glowinginterest on the environmental issues among Vietnamese
people.

Vietnam is a long and narrow country with the shape of an“S” located on the eastern of the Indochinese peninsula,bordering the Gulf of Tonkin, the East Sea and the Gulf ofThailand. The coastline is very long with about 3,260
kilometers stretch, therefore the coastal zone plays theleading role in Vietnamese economics. Besides traditional
industries, Vietnamese government also emphasizes thedevelopments for ocean tourism to accommodate a large
number of both domestic and international tourists. Givenstrong economy and a wealth of tourism resources, it isexpected that such developments will attract more tourists
from all over the world and further contribute in boosting
the economy of Vietnam.
Group photo of the organizing committee

On the other hand, investments for tourism often bringabout conflicts with many other issues such as disaster risk
problems or environmental problems. For instance, amassive sand extraction for tourism developments near thecoasts may cause severe coastal erosion in downstream
coastal communities, and which will result in the loss ofmany houses due to strong waves. Tourism developments
will also create densely populated coastal cities whichshould be vulnerable to coastal disasters such as storm
surges due to typhoons or tsunamis due to earthquakes.
Ocean tourism developments need to be harmonized with
“Disaster Risk and Environmental Management” tominimize coastal disaster risks and environmental impacts.
JSCE Ocean Development Committee in collaboration withKhanh Hoa Province and Ho Chi Minh City University ofTechnology organized the international workshop “The 1stVietnam-Japan International Workshop for Sustainable
Ocean Tourism Development and Disaster-Environmental
Risk Management” at Nha Trang in Vietnam in order todiscuss these challenges, supported financially by the JSCE
International Scientific Exchange Fund. The presentworkshop aimed at providing an occasion for many people
concerned to discuss how such sustainable ocean
development is important in order to achieve the long-term
continuation of tourism business in collaboration with local
coastal communities. The workshop was composed of several
presentations made by Vietnamese and Japanese
researchers/engineers separated in the three sessions.
Because the workshop was held for the first time in thisregion, dealing with the subjects such as coastal disaster,environment, and climate change issues, more than 100
public administrators attended the workshop. Many of them
expressed their interest on the various information provided
by the presenters as they have also witnessed a number ofenvironmental issues caused by rapid economic development

IAC News No.31, May 1 2015

Japan has been contributing to economic development
through the ODA infrastructure projects such as port andairport in the last few decades. Although it could be too
small to compare to these mega projects, we expect that thepresent workshop can become a small step but importantfirst step in initiating further collaborations between two
countries to achieve the sustainable ocean tourism
development
inconsiderationofsounddisaster-environmental management.
【Hiroshi Takagi (Tokyo Institute of Technology), Chairman of the Int’l
Affairs Subcommittee, Ocean Development Committee, JSCE】【JSCE Workshop Program】
Yasaka Hotel, Nha Trang City, Vietnam, January 13, 2015
■13:00-13:15 Opening Remarks
・Dr. Tran Thien Phuc, Vice Rector of Ho Chi Minh City Universityof Technology
・Mr. Le Mong Diep, Director of Department of Natural Resources
and Environment, Khanh Hoa■13:15-15:45 Lecture session on “Disasters, Climate Change,and Environmental Issues in Vietnam”
・ Dr. Nguyen Danh Thao, Ho Chi Minh City University ofTechnology“Coastal disasters and sustainable development in Vietnam”
・Dr. Hiroshi Takagi, Tokyo Institute of Technology“Sound coastal management for sustainable tourism
development in Nha Trang”
・Dr. Esteban Miguel, The University of Tokyo“Disaster Awareness and Preparedness along the Central
Vietnamese Coastline”

・Dr. Nguyen Trung Viet, Rector of Central Region College ofTechnology Economics and Water Resources“Beach morphological changes, case study in Nha
Trang and Hoi An, Vietnam”
・ Dr. Vu Thanh Ca, Director of Research Institute for theManagement of Seas and Islands“Research for legalizing marine environmental protection in theLaw of Sea and Island Natural Resources and Environment ofVietnam”
・Mr. Le Mong Diep, Director of Department of Natural Resources
and Environment, Khanh Hoa“The challenges of climate change on the plan of sustainable
development in Khanh Hoa Province”■15:45 – 16:00 Coffee BreakA Message from JSCE Taiwan Section“Japanese Civil Engineers have left
profound traces on the history ofTaiwan”
There were many public works projects implemented under
the leadership of Japanese civil engineers during the Japan
colonial period. Some of the structures which were built
during that period have been still in use, or nicely restored.
JSCE launched a civil engineering history and heritage
program in order to promote the restoration of civilengineering historical structures. Prof. Der-Her Lee, JSCE’s
Taiwan Section President in those days requested Assist.
Prof. Wu-Te Ko the Secretary General of that section tostudy and collect data on civil engineering historicalstructures and projects. The data collected as follows:
Wusanto Dam (completed in 1930), located in Guantian Dist.,
Tainan City, was designated JSCE’s Civil Engineering
Cultural Heritage property in 2009, the first structure
designed as that property outside Japan. Its design,planning and construction were undertaken by the Japanesecivil engineer Yoichi Hatta. The Wusanto Dam stands at thebottom of Wusan Mountains at the height of 468m above thesea level and has a hydroelectric power station. That dam is1274 meter-long and has the storage capacity of
1,541,580,000 m³. It was constructed by “semi-hydraulic fillmethod” 80 years ago and is still in use today. A ceremony tomark the dam designated as the Civil Engineering CulturalHeritage property was held at a hotel located in the WusantoReservoir scenic area on November 21, 2009, and 182
persons came together to celebrate that. At that ceremony,Dr. Hiroshi Yoshikoshi (JSCE Fellow) a former JSCE board
member presented a certification of Civil Engineering

IAC News No.31, May 1 2015

■16:00 – 17:00 Japanese latest technologies
Introduction on “Soft Technologies Contributing to Sustainable
Ocean Development”
・Mr. Taketo Araki, Yachiyo Engineering“The mechanism of storm surge and tsunami – theseprediction technics and cases of countermeasures in Japan”
・Mr. Jun Iwamoto, Yachiyo Engineering“Blue carbon and Coastal Ecosystem-based DisasterEnvironmental Risk Management”■17:00 – 17:45 Panel Discussion■17:45 Closing Remarks
Dr. Tran Thien Phuc, Vice Rector of Ho Chi Minh City
University of Technology

Cultural Heritage property and inscribed plaque to thechairman of Chia-Nan Irrigation Association (Photo 1).

Photo 1：A ceremony to mark the Wusanto Dam designated as
Civil Engineering Cultural Heritage property

Old Tainan Water Supply (est.1922) was the second Civil
Engineering Cultural Heritage property designated outside
Japan in 2010. Every phase of the construction of Tainan
Water Supply like survey, research, planning andconstruction were conducted under the leadership of Mr.
Yashiro Hamano. After the completion of Tainan WaterSupply, a population of 100,000 acquired access to waterfrom the canal which could supply water, up to 13,000m³ perday. Tainan Water Supply is divided into two areas, water
source area and water treatment areas. Taking advantage ofdifferent geo-characteristic of those two areas, Tainan Water
Supply had the water supply system worked by gravity,
which contributed to saving energy consumption in thoseareas. Also, rapid-filtration was used at a water treatment
plant. Tainan Water Supply was operated with the mostsophisticated water treatment technologies in Taiwan inthose days. Meanwhile, Keage Purification Plant (Kyoto)
was the first plant used rapid-filtration system in Japan in1912.

Mr. Hamano made tremendous efforts in securing water
sources safe enough to supply drinking water during his
23-year-long-stay from 1896 to 1918 in Tainan. He helped
the people access to safe drinking water instead of getting
water from rivers, wells and ground water sources. His effort
and contribution to increasing access to safe, clean drinking
water, which led to improve hygiene standards and extend
people’s life expectancy in the areas, have been remembered
and appreciated even now. The ceremony to celebrate theOld Tainan Canal being designated as a Civil Engineering
Cultural Heritage property was held at a pump room at thatwater treatment plant on December 11, 2010. There were as
many as 93 persons who witnessed that ceremony (Photo 2).
Prof. Kenji Sakata a former JSCE President handed acertification of Civil Engineering Cultural Heritage property
and inscribed plaque to the director of Taiwan Waterworks
Corporation 6th Branch.

Photo 2： A ceremony to mark Old Tainan Water Supply
designated as Civil Engineering Cultural Heritage property【Assist. Prof. Wu-Te Ko, Secretary General, JSCE Taiwan Section
Cheng Shiu University】

What’s Happening
・2015/5/20
EASTS-JSCE JOINT SEMINAR “PUBLIC TRANSPORTDEVELOPMENT: CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES”（Vietnamese-German University, Binh Duong New City）>>>Download Program

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・2015/6/12-13
The Institution of Engineers, Pakistan’s Annual Convention & Civil
Engineering Congress, (Karachi, Pakistan)
Editor’s postscript・2015/6/18-20
2015 MACE Annual Meeting (Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia)

Do you have any plans for the Golden Week? Every placeis crowded during the Golden Week. I dislike congestion,
so I am going to spend with my family at a nearby place.
Have a good holiday. （H.U.）

Updates・The summary of feature articles in the JSCE Magazine is available on
the JSCE website.
http://www.jsce-int.org/pub/magazine・Concrete Committee International Newsletter No. 41
http://www.jsce.or.jp/committee/concrete/e/newsletter/Newsletter.htm
・Journal of JSCE
The Journal of JSCE is the collection of research papers which canbe viewed on the JSCE website.
https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/browse/journalofjsce
・JSCE 100th Anniversary Postal Stamp was released in September,2014.
http://jsce100.com/node/250 (Japanese Only)・European Council of Civil Engineers (ECCE) has released the 2ndbook in ECCE Book Project, ”Footbridges-Small is beautiful.”
17 footbridges are contributed from JSCE:
http://www.ecceengineers.eu/

IAC News No.31, May 1 2015[Comments and Questions] JSCE IAC: iac-news@jsce.or.jp
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