2019. 2. 1

Japan Society of Civil Engineers
International Activities Center

IAC News No.76
The 1st Seminar on the Dissemination of Japanese TechnicalStandards Overseas, 9th JOPCA Seminar Held
The 1st Seminar on the Dissemination of JapaneseTechnical Standards Overseas: Focus on Ports washosted at the Japan Society of Civil Engineers (JSCE)
auditorium on November 7, 2018, with about 100
people in attendance. The seminar was jointly hosted
with

the

Japan

Overseas

Ports

Cooperation

Association (JOPCA) and was supported by the
Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport andTourism (MLIT).
After an introduction delivered by Yutaka Sunohara, a Takao Kakei, IAC Director
vice president at JSCE, Takao Kakei, International
Activities Center Director explained that this was their first time hosting a seminar with the theme ofdissemination of Japanese technical standards overseas. He said that through this seminar, an interdisciplinary
information-sharing platform would be created, and he wanted to organize shared problems and discussion points
based on this information in addition to providing feedback on individual fields.
First, Shinya Mori, director of the Engineering Administration Office, Engineering Planning Division, Ports andHarbours Bureau, MLIT, presented the various efforts that his Ministry is conducting with regard to overseas
adoption of Japanese technical standards in the field of ports, under the title, “Efforts by the Ministry of Land,
Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Toward Internationalization of Technical Standards.”
Next, Masafumi Miyata, director of the Port Facilities Division, Port and Harbor Department, National Institutefor Land and Infrastructure Management, MLIT, reported on a case study regarding the promotion of support
for creating technical standards for ports that was proceeding in Vietnam, under the title, “Toward
Internationalization of Technical Standards for Port Facilities and Their Interpretation: Current Status, Issues,and the Future.” He also gave a presentation regarding the creation of an English-language edition, currently inprogress, of Technical Standards for Port Facilities and Their Interpretation, which was revised this year.
The third presenter was Ryo Yamamoto, general manager of the International Operations Department at JapanPort Consultants, Ltd., who reported on eight case studies in seven countries with regard to what technicalstandards each project used, under the title “Case Studies on the Application of Technical Standards in Different
Countries and Case Studies on Port Facility Design.”
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In addition, Masafumi Ito, chief engineer of the International Division, Engineering Division Group, EcohCorporation, presented case studies comparing Japanese and French technical standards in the design of steel
pipe sheet pile quays, under the title “Design Studies of Steel Pipe Sheet Piles According to Japanese TechnicalStandards and European Standards.”
Osamu Kusakabe, president of the International Press-in Association, reported on case studies involving thedeep layer mixing method and the jacked pile method, which are a soil improvement technologies developed inJapan, under the title “Case Studies of International Deployment of Technologies Developed in Japan.” Heemphasized the importance of sharing information by having industry, government, and academia work together
to create standards, build up a track record for construction methods, create textbooks and handbooks in English,
and conduct overseas seminars, in order to facilitate the international adoption of technology developed in Japan.
Lastly, Heizo Kito, president of the Japan Transport Cooperation Association (JTCA) and former director of
JOPCA, gave a concluding speech in which he expressed his desire to promote the mutual exchange ofknowledge between members by hosting similar seminars in the future.

【Reported by Yoshiaki Higuchi, Group Leader, Project Group, IAC】

The First International Conference on Press-in
Engineering 2018, Kochi
The first “International Conference on Press-in
Engineering (ICPE) 2018, Kochi” was held by the
ICPE Organizing Committee*1 / International Press-in
Association (IPA)*2 at Kochi University of Technology
in Kami city, Kochi Prefecture, Japan on 19th and 20th
September, 2018.
Address*1*2: Minato-ku, Tokyo, Japan, Chair*1/President*2: Dr. Osamu
Kusakabe

The IPA is an international academic organization

Photo 1 The Auditorium in the Conference Venue

founded in 2007 and tasked with the challenging aimsof explication and expansion of the Press-in technology. IPA marked theeleventh anniversary this year and is kept growing. “Press-in retaining
structures: a handbook (First edition 2016)” was published and theinternational seminars have been held regularly to apply this unique
technique to society. After more than one decade of activities, the ICPE
Organizing Committee was set up, and the first international conference washeld in the city of Kochi, Japan, since Kochi is the birthplace of a pilingmachine called “Silent Piler”, which plays a key role in Press-in Engineering.
At the conference, there were 418 participants including researchers,
engineers, practitioners and students from 17 countries.
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Photo 2 Opening Address by Dr
Osamu Kusakabe, Chair of
ICPE2018 Organizing
Committee

The three key words of the ICPE2018 as an international conference are “disaster prevention”, “ iconstruction*3 ” and “regional revitalization”. As an aim of “regional revitalization”, the ICPE2018
disseminate the Press-in technology through the international conference held in Kochi, Japan where the Pressin technology was originated. As an aim of “disaster prevention”, the counter measures of Kochi Prefecture
against tsunamis expected to occur as a result of future Tonankai earthquakes was the main topic of thisconference. As an aim of “i-Construction”, it was recognized that the use of ICT or IOT in construction machines
is vital to improve productivity and solve the issue of labour shortage. In support of these aims, 28 supporters
including the Kochi Prefecture and the Japanese Society of Civil Engineers (JSCE), and the ICPE Organizing
committee received four subsidies including the International Scientific Exchange Fund of JSCE.
*3

A project promoted by the Japanese Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism to make the construction work more productive as

well as appealing, mainly based on ICT (Information and Communication Technology).

In the plenary sessions, two keynote lecturers were invited. Professor Fumihiko Imamura of Tohoku University,of the director of the International Research Institute of Disaster Science, who is a world-renowned expert on
tsunami disaster prevention, and Mr Kenjiro Shimada, who is active in the front line of Komatsu Ltd. which isa leading company developing ICT construction machinery. Also, a video message by Mr Akio Kitamura(Honorary president, IPA / President, GIKEN LTD.), who is an inventor of the Press-in technology, was shown.
The message mentioned the background and the future prospects of the Press-in technology and machines
contributing to society due to their multiplicity of broad versatility in construction. Furthermore, the state-ofthe-art report of the collaboration between the Cambridge University and GIKEN LTD. was unveiled. Acrossthe sixteen general sessions, including two organized sessions regarding “i-Construction” and “dialogue among
operators and researchers”, in total 88 presentations on the research and project reports were made. It seems thatmany participants listened attentively to lectures in the plenary session whilst proactive discussions and useful
opinion exchange occurred in the general sessions, which demonstrated the high level of academic interest in
the Press-in technology.
In addition to the international conference, a technical visit
was conducted. A site tour of the Kochi coast protection
system of which the Press-in technology was adopted,
keeping the function of both the existing levees and arterial
roads, was arranged, as was a tour of the facilities of the
Kochi head office, GIKEN LTD. This tour including thetsunami simulator, the underground mechanical car park
“ECO-park” and the museum of pile drivers. Particularly
during the site tour, some participants exclaimed inastonishment “I can’t believe that this levee was reinforced
without the suspension of traffic. Additionally, the scenery

Photo 3 The Museum of Pile Driversof beautiful coast was kept after the construction!” Thus,
this technical visit was a good opportunity for the participants to grasp the practicability of the Press-in
technology.
【Reported by International Press-in Association】

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Introduction to Committee of Geotechnical Engineering
1. Outline
The

Committeeof

GeotechnicalEngineering, founded in 1976, is one ofbodies belonging to Research andStudies III Category of JSCE. Under
direction of the present chair Prof. T.
Katsumi (Kyoto University), vice chair
Prof. R. Kuwano (Tokyo University) andchief secretary Dr. H. Ishii (TAISEICorporation, the writer of this report),
see photo. 1, the committee aims to:

Photo 1 Prof. T. Katsumi (center), Prof. R. Kuwano (left) and Dr. H. Ishii(right)explore trends in geotechnical practiceand research, sponsor geotechnical engineering seminar, promote and estimate relating activities including subcommittees.’ In this small report, only a few of our activities are introduced.
2. Geotechnical Engineering Seminar
The geotechnical engineering seminarhas been annually held to provide
lectures and to exchange opinions
relating to timely geotechnical topics.
The recent ones include “geotechnicaldisasterlearntEarthquakefrom(2016)”

andKumamoto“volcanic

eruption and landslides disaster (2015).”
Another topic “to solve real estate
disputes relating to geotechnical issues
(2013

and

2014)”

wasoriginally

Photo 2 Geotechnical Engineering Seminar Held on 09 January 2019organized by us, and has been succeededby the Japanese Association for Geotechnical Evaluation that now holds ones under the name of “geotechnicalevaluation seminar” on annual basis. We have held the recent seminar on January 9th, 2019 with the topic of“utilization of waste soils and handling of soil pollutions caused by naturally occurring heavy metals, continued”,
having 71 JSCE members and non-members as attendance (see Photo 2). For the next seminar, we are going tochoose a suitable topics and contents. We look forward to seeing you on the next seminar.
3. Sub-Committees
Now, the following three sub-committees are acting on issues relating to geotechnical engineering: Volcanic
4Engineering Research Committee chaired by Dr. H. Imaifrom Suncoh Corporation, Slope Engineering ResearchCommittee chaired by Prof. M. Suzuki from Yamaguchi
University and River Dike Research Committee chairedby Prof. K. Maeda from Nagoya Institute of Technology.
The committees are dealing with pure civil engineering
issues with support of committee members from variousorganization and another committees under different
JSCE’s bodies. Some committees also expand their fields
to social contribution by educating and enlightening

Photo 3 Sub-Committees’ Activity at a Civic Eventcitizen on natural disaster (see Photo 3). We are happy if
you would participate some symposiums and events
prepared by the committees and learn more about theiractivities.
4. Concluding Remarks
For activities of Committee of Geotechnical Engineering, we place importance on a close cooperation with theJapanese Geotechnical Society (JGS) which shear common technical interests in wider range. Field surveys ofnatural disasters are typical activities that we put efforts to maximize the effects of corroboration with JGS by
injecting JSCE’s unique ideas and approachs. We would like to thank JSCE members as well as non-members
for further support on Committee of Geotechnical Engineering.

【Reported by Hiroyasu Ishii, Chief Secretary, Committee of Geotechnical Engineering】

Introduction to the Wood Engineering Committee
1. Overview of the Wood Engineering Committee
The Wood Engineering Committee, launched in June 2012, is the newest committee in
the Research Department of the Japan Society of Civil Engineers (JSCE). Because theJapanese word for civil engineering is written with two characters meaning “ground” and“trees,” many people think that we’ve had a wood-related committee for a long time, but
in fact, this is the first committee to be started that deals with wood, and there was nosuch committee previously. This committee conducts activities for the purposes of
expanding the utilization of forest resources and the use of wood in the civil engineering

Masaho Yoshida

field, of developing new civil engineering structures made with wood, and investigating Chair of WoodEngineering Committee

and researching problems, including global environmental problems.
The biggest difference between this committee and others is that it operates as an “interdisciplinary researchsociety concerned with broadening the usage of wood in civil engineering” and is comprised of the three5scientific societies of the Japanese Forest Society, the Japan Wood Research Society and our committee as theorganizer, among which good cooperation are maintained. Another distinctive aspect of our society is that inaddition to subcommittee activities which handle CObudgets, wooden bridges, forestry conservation

structures, underground usage, and wood materials, we collaborate with local research societies involved withwood usage.

Wooden Bridge

Wooden Guard Rail

Wooden Flood Control Dam

Underground Usage

Wooden Sound-Insulating wall

Wooden Train Station

Photo 1 Example of Wood Usage in the Field of Civil Engineering, Where Development Continues

2. Activity Details
Our main yearly activities are, in addition to holding regular committee meetings, hosting the Wood Utilization
Research Conference (August), at which researchers present and discuss their research results, and the Wood
Utilization Symposium (March), which provides reports and the latest information from the committee’s results,
as well as tours and workshops hosted by our subcommittees, our regional Wood Utilization Symposiums hosted
by a rotating list of regional research societies, and more.
As an interdisciplinary research society consisting of three member societies, our objective is to expand thevolume of wood used in civil engineering by 4 million m3 per year, to gain the approval of numerous academic
societies, and to make policy recommendations to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism,

Photo 3 A press Release for a Proposal (Mr. Tashiro,
Former President of the JSCE, Giving an Introductory
Message, March 22, 2017)

Photo 2 A Regionally Hosted Symposium (Wood
Utilization Symposium in Nagasaki, January 23, 2018)6

the Forestry Agency, and other government agencies in order to achieve our objectives.
3. Publication of Books
Very few textbooks on civil engineering materials have sections dedicatedto wood, and as a result, wood has become an unfamiliar material in civilengineering technology. Accordingly, we published a compendium ofwood characteristics and utilization methods titled The Beginner’s Guide
to Wood Engineering for Civil Engineers in March 2017. Over 900 copies
had been sold by December 2018, and the book has been helpful to civilengineers when they use wood.

The Beginner’s Guide to WoodEngineering, Published by the JSCE

【Reported by Masaho Yoshida, Chair of Wood Engineering Committee(National Institute of Technology, Fukui College)】【Alumni of DOBOKU Series】“My Construction Industry Life is still going on in a Foreign Country”

He Huang
Kiso-Jiban Consultants Co., Ltd.
The Beginning of My Consulting Life
3:42 am, July 28th, 1976, the Great Tangshan Earthquake was a natural disaster resulting
from a magnitude 7.5 that hit the region around Tangshan, Hebei, China. Tangshan
almost annihilated, and 0.25 million people died in the disaster by the Chinese
government's announcement of the time. (Maybe, that’s a lot more than that.) It was thelargest earthquake disaster in the 20 century. It was an incident when I was not born, but
I still remember clearly that I had a considerable impact when I saw photographs andpress at the time in the college course. The seismic resistance of the building was
picked up as one of the reasons why did the damage spread that extent?

That is the He Huang (Kiso-Jian

first time I feel the serious responsibility of the work in the construction, and also theConsultants Co., Ltd)first time I was enthusiasm about the work in this field.
One of the college teachers had the experience of studying abroad experience in Japan, "Japan is the best selectif you want to study seismic." she said. So I came to Japan in the 2007, and start my study in Hiroshima University.
After obtaining the master's degree and doctor's degree at Hiroshima University, I continued my study in
Hiroshima University as a Fellow Researcher.

And three years ago, it was time to think about my future. I wasvery hesitant about continuing my research, or working as contractors. Girls of the physical science increase innow, and career woman is not so rare in the construction industry. However, there was extremely little number
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of woman researchers in both China and Japan because of prejudice against women at that time. As a result ofvarious investigations of my future, I joined Kiso-Jiban Consultants Co.,Ltd. in 2017.
Felt the Challenging of My Research
My research is about ground improvement method in the Hiroshima University. Meanwhile, 14:28, May 12th,
2008, an earthquake of magnitude 8.0 was occurred in Wenchuan of Sichuan Province. That is the second year
in my Master's course.

70,000 people died, although this disaster occurred in daylight. Since the Tangshan

earthquake, people are start concerned about the earthquake disaster, but for the reinforcement technology ofexisting structures, it was emphasized after the Sichuan earthquake. At that time, I felt that my research surely
will be useful for people's lives. One of my researchers is how to improve the properties of soils like increase its
toughness. I focus on bamboo as fiber material, it is cheap and its excellent toughness is very useful, it will earntimes save lives when disaster occurs. At the time, one of the junior in the same group who helped my experiment,
is now a teacher in China Guangzhou University. We decided to continue this research because he said to me
that this research will absolutely useful someday, and I believe that day will come soon.
Step Up
Consultant, is someone who can proposed a plan with the demands of the ordered, and solving the problem. In
addition to expert knowledge, explanation ability is extremely important. I was put into the analysis department
at where I can make use of my knowledge and experience.
I was only studied about the theories related to my own research like the elastic-plastic analysis and consolidation
analysis theories of ground during my college life. But now, I am absorbing new knowledge everyday likeneighboring construction, underground water, seismic, slope, and so on. I got new knowledge every time whenI hit a new obstacle then solve it, and I can feel the change.
In recent years, heavy rain disaster occurred in succession in Hiroshima. I’ve become extremely interested in thedebris flow, not only to participate in study sessions of discontinuity analysis, but also began study of fluid
simulation. It’s all down to my supervisor that I can create my own program, and I’d like to make the most ofwhat I’ve learned to the study of discontinuity analysis.
"Japan" and "Japanese"In the past, the relationship is bad between Japan and
China in long time. Some Chinese still holding a bad
image in Japan now. However, everyone around meis very kind and friendly. I am so glad that I met mysupervisor Prof. Yamamoto and my colleagues. I wasfortunate that I met such people in a foreign land andto work together, and I am truly blessed with
opportunities.
I was passed the primary test of Professional
Engineers in October 2017, and I have been
preparing for the current secondary test now.
Although it is the second year I Join this team, has With Professor Yamamoto at the Laboratory
been asked to join in various cases that was a goodchance to improve myself. Accompanied to the meeting with the orders is very useful, I can fell a strong sense8

of responsibility to the Japanese in work, it precisely, one reason for the brand "Japan" named to the world.
I would like to do my best to build-out the exchanges and friendly relations between Japan and China throughworking, and to peace and both countries of prosperity.

《Column》Haruyuki Yamamoto, Development Technology, Division of Development Science, Graduate School ofInternational Development and Cooperation, Hiroshima University
Nearly a decade ago, Huang He entered Hiroshima University as a research student and desired to go
on to master’s and doctor’s courses. However I was still not certain whether she can success to get
degrees or not, because seemed very shy and uncertain. Despite my concerns, I was surprised andvery glad to her ability for numerical analysis based on fundamental skill of mathematics. She became
good programmer and could resolve the complicated problems. She improves her skill in numericalanalysis after obtain PhD and through three years as a special researcher. Her skill and knowledge areapplied in the practice study now. I hope she becomes the top-level engineer in the field of numericalanalysis of the ground and the foundation engineering by further her efforts.
※Alumni of DOBOKU Series is in collaboration with Editorial Committee of JSCE Magazine.

Updates◆Construction Site Tour for International Student (February, 25, 2019)http://www.jsce-int.org/node/588◆CECAR8 Online Registration
http://www.cecar8.jp/◆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/◆Asian Civil Engineering Coordinating Council (ACECC) International Newsletter
http://www.acecc-world.org/newsletter.html◆IAC “News Pick Up!!” on the JSCE Japanese website
http://committees.jsce.or.jp/kokusai/node/118◆Summary of featured articles in JSCE Magazine Vol. 104, No.2 February 2019http://www.jsce-int.org/pub/magazine◆Journal of JSCE
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