2018. 5. 1

Japan Society of Civil Engineers
International Activities Center

IAC News No.67
Student Voice“A Rich Framework of Studies and Cultural Discovery”
When I look back on four years ago, when I still was an undergraduate student in myhome country Burkina Faso in West Africa, I knew only one thing about Japan, which
was the quote of Jigoro Kano Sensei written on the wall of our Judo club. It says “It’snot the number of fails that count for a warrior, but the number of times he picks himselfup no matter how hard he falls.” As time goes by, I keep practicing the philosophy ofthis quote while I am studying at Kyoto University. I have gained an opportunity to bea student of this great university through the JICA scholarship program “AfricanBusiness Education Initiative for Youth (ABE Initiative). At Kyoto University, I am

Christian Sawadogo（Kyoto University）

studying in the department of Civil and Earth Resources Engineering, precisely in thelaboratory of Geomechanics. In this laboratory, under the supervision of Professor KIMURA Makoto, I am
studying the interaction between soil and structures under different model of soil.
During wind tidal currents, wave actions in coastal areas, or lateral forces during earthquakes, structures likely
undergo high overturning moments. The overturning moments generates uplift forces on the piles located on theopposite edge of the tilted structure. My research topic is a numerical analysis on the mechanical behavior of a
type of pile foundation subjected to the uplift loads. In such a dynamic laboratory, there are challenges everyday. This laboratory, with Japanese students and students from other seven countries such as Singapore, SouthKorea, America, Cameroon, Indonesia, Thailand, and Burkina-Faso, is a culturally diverse laboratory, whichhelps us to learn not only about geotechnical engineering, but also different cultures from each other. We all have
our learning ways and philosophies. That is very interesting because we always have the opportunity to knowhow other people solve the same problem. Also, my seniors are always willing to give me explanations andsupport about my research. The environment is the one in which you always have a mate with whom you discusswith and get new ideas about any topic. We have laboratory seminars almost twice a month during which eachof us reports how much he/she makes progress on his/her researches and also shares what problems he/she isfacing with in his/her researches. Besides researches and laboratory works, we do have fun and hang out witheach other. It’s also a time during which we discover Japan in general and Kyoto particularly. Kyoto is a culturallyrich city which has a lot of cultural heritages and places to visit.
I feel very lucky that I could attend the lectures and events organized by JSCE. Those lectures and events are agood framework to learn and to make contact with some experienced practitioners in the various areas of civilengineering. On 24th of November 2017, for example, I attended a site excursion and a Joint Company1Information Session in which I learned a lot. At the construction site, I saw an amazing project. It was my firsttime to visit an underground structure construction site. It was the construction of Route 9 Kyoto West Utility
Tunnel. The contractor was Nishimastu Construction Co., Ltd., and they received us in their office to give someexplanations about their construction techniques. The main method was the slurry tunneling method, which has
a lot of advantages in terms of finances and time management. Also, we had the Joint Company Information
Session with some Japanese construction companies. We discussed many topics with them. One thing that I
learned from that session was that most of them, had a unique human resources management strategies; anyworker was considered as a part of a family, and the family would train him/her at the work of his/her field. Thatis the reason why some of those companies have their own institutes in which new employees receive trainingand conduct researches. I am very grateful to my supervisor and JSCE to give me the opportunity to participate
to in those events. I am already looking forward to participating in the forthcoming events of JSCE.

Learning how to pound Motchi in Nagano

At the Calligraphy Lesson【Reported by Christian Sawadogo (Kyoto University)】2

【Alumni of DOBOKU Series】“Make Japan Quality Great Again?!”
Chan Chee Seng
Osram Opto Semiconductors (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd.
The goddess of fate has thrown me a curveball when it comes to my career. It neveroccurred to me that I would have changed 11 companies in 25 years. After completed myMaster degree from Tohoku University in ‘92, my first job was with one of top Oil & Gas
Engineering Firm in Yokohama for 5 years. Subsequently I joined a Japanese General
Contractor back home in Penang mainly involving in construction of factories for another6 years. For the next 14 years, my employment had changed from supplier, sub and main
contractor, consultants and factory owner’s project management team. Presently I am
Chan Chee Seng

attached to a Germany LED Manufacturing Plant located in Kulim, Malaysia as Project Osram OptoSemiconductors
Management Consultant.

(Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd

1992 @ Coastal Engineering Laboratory (Author at right)

As there already have numerous detailed reports from Japanese Research Centres and Consultants in regards toMalaysia current economical and political issues, I would like to share here a few of my personal experiences
and opinions on Japanese company issues in Malaysia.

Japanese Company Culture – Has it been compromised?
80’s was the era when Malaysia was heading full force for Industrialisation. Both Japanese manufacturers andcontractors had been active with the aid of ODA. Unfortunately the situation changed when the Asian Financial
Crisis hit in ’97. Soon after the crisis, the uprising of mainland China market dominated the investment marketand drew all the money to this new “Eastern Frontier”.
As a result of the crisis, a company with Japanese staff of more than 50 persons at the peak of construction in
80’s had to be downsized to 3 persons or less in order to sustain the office. For some companies, the reductionof Japanese personnel in management resulted the control of company slip into the hand of local staff who,
regrettably, abused their power by corruption, conflict of interest, non compliance and etc. Sadly, the good
reputation of ‘Japan Product’ had been jeopardised not only in QUALITY, but also in SAFETY and SERVICE.

3The Emerging of China
If you walk around major cities in Malaysia, majority of government projects are constructed by mainland
Chinese (hereinafter as Chinese) contractors under the ‘One Belt and One Road Initiative’ strategy. Thesecontractors are self-financed (or partially supported by the Chinese government) and have been given a lot ofspecial waivers from Malaysia government in related to local regulations and by-laws. The way of Chinese
contractors operate is that they import almost 100% of their materials, equipment and labour from home country
and thus such kind of practice contributes hardly any benefit to Malaysia local companies and society.
On the other hand, if you ask local engineers who had work for/with Japanese Contractors 2 decades ago, mostof them will extend their gratitude to Japanese managers who had devoted their time and effort to train local
engineers to improve their skills and knowledge to achieve higher standard, perhaps even close to Japanesestandard.
Human Resource
If there is a general opinion that local engineers have become less competent comparing two, three decades ago.
The frequent and harebrained change of Education Policy to fulfil certain political agendas had confused school
administration and teachers. Apparently the government has more interest to increase the quantity of graduatedstudents and PhD by sacrificing their academic quality. Furthermore ‘Brain Drain’ issue is haunting the growthof country and continues to be a major issue as the government seems to be keen less to solve it.
That is why Malaysian graduates from overseas are more popular among private sectors especially international
companies. Generally Western companies will have more advantages comparing to Japanese as they offer better
salary, flexible working hour and more attractive working environment such as working with T-shirt and jeanetc. No doubt in Japan, companies are also evolving to create a modern and employee friendly environment but
unfortunately this has not yet started here.
Dilemma of Locally Employed Staff in Japanese Company
Statues of direct employment from Japan HQ and from Malaysia branch office are two different stories. Other
than the salary, the weight of responsibility and trust invested on by Japanese management has a huge gap.
Especially when dealing with Japanese client, as locally employed staff my presence was merely a ‘Helper’ anddecision can only be finalized with HQ staff even though with a lower position. Such kind of practice has nothing
but limits the capability of local staff to perform at his best where else Western companies are willing to put
more responsibility to local staff.
‘Thirst for Opportunity’
During my recent encounter with a Korean contractor, their approach and aggressiveness reminded me of myex-bosses in Yokohama and also my friend, late Mr. S. Yamamoto who started his career as sales person in
trading company in 60’s. Mr. Yamamoto by himself alone explored throughout Europe, Middle East and South
East Asia markets back in 70’s. Both Mr. Yamamoto and my bosses were among those ‘Showa Man’ who had
contributed to the Japanese Economic Miracle era in 50’s to 70’s. Sadly such kind of ‘Showa Man’ spirit canhardly be seen in current young Japanese generation. Moreover, especially dealing with Westerner thisgeneration shows lack of confidence and tends to avoid head-on confrontation.
Last but not least, I would like to thank all my Professors, colleagues and friends for their continuous support4

and friendship. It has been an unforgettable and wonderful memory to stay in a ‘Utopia like’ Japanese society.
As I am getting closer to retirement, I wish to be able to continue training younger engineers, at least to contributeto maintain a reasonable engineering standard in the near future.

《Column》Masatomo Nagao,Professor,Ashikaga Institute of Technology
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 for Environmental Studies,
Tsukuba in March 2011. He sent me an e-mail full of realistic presence, saying “Sense, itwas 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 ofgeoenvironmental engineering we are working on, I believe that Zhejiang University is theleading 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.

International Seminar“Roles of Universities and Academic Societies in Infrastructure
Engineering in Vietnam and Japan”
In the morning of January 20, 2018 (Sat.), an international seminar was held by Master Program in Infrastructure
Engineering (MIE) of Vietnam Japan University (VJU) to discuss roles of universities and academic societies ininfrastructure engineering in Vietnam and Japan at My Dinh campus of VJU. This seminar was officially
supported by Japan Society of Civil Engineers (JSCE), Vietnam Federation of Civil Engineering Associations(VFCEA), and Vietnam Bridge and Road Association (VIBRA).

Attendants of the seminar5

First, Dr. Phan Le Binh (a JICA long-term expert) started the seminar with an introduction about VJU and MIE.
Next, Prof. Tetsuro Hyodo (Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology) made a presentation oninternational activities of JSCE, followed by a presentation of Assoc. Prof. Nguyen Hoang Giang (NationalUniversity of Civil Engineering) on the establishment and activities of Hanoi Center of JSCE. Information aboutstructure and roles of VFCEA and VIBRA were explained by Mr. Tran Dinh Thai (Head of International Division,VFCEA) and Assoc. Prof. Tong Tran Tung (Vice President, VIBRA), respectively. Then, as the representativesof private firms, Dr. Duong Trong Vinh (CONINCO) and Dr. Phan Huu Duy Quoc (Shimizu Corp.; Vice
President of Vietnam Section, JSCE) summarized expectations from enterprises toward universities andacademic societies as well as human resource development in companies. About 60 participants of the seminar
composed of researchers/students from universities, members of VFCEA and VIBRA, researchers from research
institutes under Vietnam Ministry of Transport and Ministry of Constructions and the employees of Japaneseenterprises. Participants including Prof. Nguyen Dinh Duc (Director of MIE, VJU) and Prof. Hironori Kato (Codirector of MIE, VJU) actively discussed various issues such as supports from Japanese companies to their stafffor achieving technical certificates, the reflection of their ownership of technical certificates onto staff’s salary,and the role of academic society in issuing technical certificates in Japan. In Vietnam, the certification of highest
technician level is managed by governmental organizations. Many participants unveiled their expectations thatthe management of technical certificates should be empowered to academic society even in Vietnam like Japan.
Also, many local attendants strongly requested JSCE to share their experiences in Japan more with Vietnamese
governmental agencies through international seminars like this seminar.

Presentation by Prof. Tetsuro Hyodo

The participants attentively listen to the seminar

Discussion led by Prof. Hironori Kat

Presentation by VIBRA

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【Reported by Phan Le Binh (JICA long-term expert) &Hironori Kato (The University of Tokyo)】

Activity Report of ACECC TC16
The Asian Civil Engineering Coordinating Council (ACECC) TC-16 is atechnical committee focusing on the theme of "ITS (Intelligent TransportSystems)-based Solutions for Urban Traffic Problems in the Asia-PacificRegion." The TC-16 has been organizing ITS solutions for urban traffic
issues, which are a common challenge for Asian countries and include
congestion, accidents, and environmental issues caused by rapid urbanization
coupled with economic growth and the proliferation of vehicles. It also held aseries of discussions on methods of introducing ITS according to a country’slevel of economic growth and national land development. In fiscal 2016, asan outcome of the TC-16 activities, “ITS Introduction Guide” (Photo 1) wascompleted and placed on the websites of the ACECC and the Japan Society

Photo 1. ITS Introduction Guideof Civil Engineers (JSCE).
The TC-16 has continuously held
workshops with committee members
from other countries concurrently withinternational conferences such as theIntelligent Transport Systems AsiaPacific Forum (ITSAP). In June 2017, aworkshop was held in Hong Kong tocoincide with the 15th ITSAP Forum(Photo 2). In this workshop, Chairman
Photo 2. ITS Introduction GuideKamijo outlined the results of surveys on

outstanding examples of introducing ITS in Asian countries, including a tricycle leasing system utilizing
fintech in the Philippines and its operational management; operation of the Electronic Road Pricing (ERP)system in Singapore; and the operational management of taxis utilizing probe data in Thailand. Also, after
discussing proposals to be made at a session at the 8th Civil Engineering Conference in the Asian Region(CECAR 8) to be held in Japan in April 2019, the policy of the session was decided and the written proposal of
the TC-16 was prepared. After the proposal had been examined by the secretariat of CECAR 8, the TC-16
received approval to hold a technical session.
Also, "Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS)," which has been attracting global attention in recent years, is a research
theme for this fiscal year, and we have conducted a review of the literature. Additionally, we attended technicalsessions and other lectures at the 24th ITS World Congress held in October 2017 and conducted case research.
MaaS refers to a system that integrates transportation infrastructure, information and payment services byusing information and communication technology (ICT), Internet of Things (IoT) devices and fintech services,7with the aim of providing one-stop, seamless services and proposing means of mobility best suited to the needsof individuals. In Japan, such services have not been realized yet. The ACECC TC-16 will continue to conduct
activities toward solving urban transportation problems in Asia by surveying advanced cases of ITS
introduction in various countries around the world and revising the ITS Introduction Guide.

【Report by Kazuya Tamada, Secretary of ACECC TC-16,Researcher, ITS Division of National Institute for Land and Infrastructure Management】

Call for CECAR8 Exhibitions
Civil Engineering Conference of Asian Region (CECAR) is an international conference held very three years as
one pillar activity of the Asian Civil Engineering Coordinating Council (ACECC) which consists of 13 civilengineering-related institutes and societies. It is a unique meeting in which civil engineering professionals fromacademia, public and private sectors come together and discuss technical, environmental, social and relating
matters beyond the civil engineering discipline. The 8th CECASR (CECAR8) is held in Tokyo from April 16 to19, 2019, hosted by JSCE.
The CECAR8 holds not only technical sessions, but also over 60 booth exhibits during the conference.
Applications for that space is received on a first-come-first-served basis, until August 31, 2018. It will be thegreat opportunity to introduce the latest technologies, products and research projects of yourorganizations/institutes to the participants coming from the 13 and more countries which are developing
infrastructures rapidly. Please visit the CECAR8 website for more details (http://www.cecar8.jp/;http://committees.jsce.or.jp/acecc/cecar). Don’t miss this opportunity!

Updates◆2018 JSCE Annual Meeting International Program (Japanese)
http://committees.jsce.or.jp/kokusai/◆The 20th International Summer Symposium in 2018
http://www.jsce-int.org/node/538◆Online Museum of Civil Engineering “DOBOHAKU –Tokyo Infrastructure Anatomy –” (English ver.)
http://www.dobohaku.com/tokyo/en/◆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/◆Concrete Committee International Newsletter No. 53
http://www.jsce.or.jp/committee/concrete/e/newsletter/newsletter53/index.html
This special edition is continued from the No.52, to broadly share knowledge on the tremendous R&D efforts
being made towards practical application of new and advanced technologies in the field of maintenance,
renovation and infrastructure management in Japan. The JSCE Concrete Committee hopes that international
readers will find the contents of this special edition Newsletter to be interesting and beneficial for their research
8and work.
In the No.53, the translation articles of an outline of each topic regarding technical fields in the SIPInfrastructure Project are available.
CONTENTS:Future vision for infrastructure maintenance
Development of material technologies
Use of ICT in infrastructure maintenance
Robotics in infrastructure maintenance
Data assimilation and the infrastructure management cycle
International promotion and human resource development◆Asian Civil Engineering Coordinating Council (ACECC) International Newsletter archives
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 feature articles in JSCE Magazine Vol. 103, No. 5, May 2018 on the JSCE website
http://www.jsce-int.org/pub/magazine◆Journal of JSCEhttps://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/browse/journalofjsce◆IAC Students and Alumni Network
http://www.jsce-int.org/IAC_network§ IAC News Subscription §The IAC News is one of the communication tools to share information and ideas with the members. We would like to invite
you, your friends and colleagues to join the communication and to subscribe the IAC News. Please register online:(http://www.jsce-int.org/node/150). We look forward to meeting you.
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Comments and Questions
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