2020. 12. 1

Japan Society of Civil Engineers
International Activities Center

IAC News No.98
Japanese Crises and the Future of Civil Engineering‐ from the Perspective of Our Origins and Culture – (1/3)
Prof. Ieda delivered a Presidential Speech at the 2020 JSCE Annual Meeting. The IAC News introduces the speechfrom this issue to No.100.

■ Introduction
Since the first president, Prof. Koi FURUICHI, gave an address in 1914, thepresident of the time has given a magnificent address every year at annual
meetings of Japan Society of Civil Engineers. It is a tremendous honor for me toreceive such an opportunity. But at the same time, it is a lot of pressure. That’s
why first of all I researched about what the 107 presidents before me had talked
about. I found that what they discussed could be roughly divided into three
categories. The first type of address is about academic and technical content that Prof. Dr. Hitoshi IEDA
reflects one's specialty. The second is discussing specific policies and measures 108th JSCE President
that the civil engineering industry should work on based on the issues of thetimes. The third type of address is about the philosophies and attitudes of people involved in civilengineering and a vision for how the organization should be. This was also the case with the address
given by the first president, Prof. FURUICHI and many presidents have based their addresses on similar
topics ever since. While I feel a little bit nervous about doing so, I'm going to take the plunge and give atalk that carries on from this line of ‘type 3’ addresses.
■ Japan’s Inherent Facing Crises
We face a wide range of issues such as intensifying disasters due to global warming, aging
infrastructure facilities (problems relating to maintenance systems), social system changes due tothe decline in population, distortions caused by economic globalization, or pandemics like
COVID-19. It goes without saying that it is important to seriously tackle these specific issues by
way of precise and concrete means. However, we should recognize that we face following threeserious inherent crises in more profound areas that are separate from the aforementioned specificissues.
The first crisis is ‘the decline of Japan's presence’. Japan's GDP share in relation to the world as awhole has more than halved from 13% to 6% in the last 20 years, and even in terms of GDP percapita, Japan used to be the second largest in the world, but now finds itself down in 26th. As thepopulation declines, the strength of the nation will fall unless production per capita is increased.
This situation is serious. In the ranking of largest companies in the world by market capitalization,1

in 1989, 21 Japanese companies were among the top 30 companies, but now there is not a single
one that ranks in the top 30. Under these circumstances, Mr Jitsuro TERASHIMA, a well-known
social critic, stated in his most recent book that ‘many people mistake the stagnation in a buried
economy for ‘stability’ or tell themselves that this is what it is.’ Even more so than the situation
itself, it might be more serious to not actually recognize a crisis as a crisis.
The second crisis is ‘concerns about the innovation of Japanese technology and technical’. From2000 to 2019, there have been 13 Japanese Nobel laureates, ranking third in the world along withFrance, after the United States and Britain. However, if we convert this to the number of winners
per capita, the situation changes completely. Britain, the United States, Switzerland, theScandinavian countries, and France rank high, whereas Japan ranks considerably low withGermany. Furthermore, according to a survey conducted over the last three years, the number ofpapers in the field of natural science is 65,000 in Japan, while it is 280,000 in the United States,
which is an overwhelmingly large number even considering the population ratio. In addition,
China has finally surpassed the United States with 306,000.
Looking at China's infrastructure, the length of expressways is now 10 times that of Japan, andthe length of high-speed railway lines is 8 times that of Japan. The construction market is also ina different league. Technology evolves only when we engage in a vast amount of work. In theyears to come, China will also produce considerable results not only in the field of ICT but also
in many other fields. It is essential for Japan to steer its business toward undertaking a ‘vast amountof work’ and promote ‘vitality’ in its overseas markets.
The third crisis is ‘concerns about the motivation of Japanese labors’. According to aninternational comparative survey on the “motivation” of workers conducted by an overseas
research company, Japan is surprisingly low, ranking 132nd out of 139 countries. The WorldSkills
Competition was once dominated by Japan, but nowadays Switzerland, China, and South Korea
are emerging, and Japan is unable to finish near the top. In recent years, the number of doctoral
degree holders per capita has been increasing year by year in most developed countries, but onlyin Japan is this number in fact declining. Japanese society is becoming relatively ‘less educated’.
It goes without saying that the aforementioned crisis in Japan is also a crisis of the civilengineering industry.
■ A Crisis is also an Opportunity to Make Leaps Forward
Such a situation is undoubtedly a crisis. However, considering the mentality of the Japanese people,
there is a possibility that each person will be able to rise from the brink of defeat and turn this setof circumstances into a new development opportunity by admitting to ourselves that this is in fact
a crisis.
Prof. Tokujiro YOSHIDA, the 37th president, said in his president's address in 1950 that “Japanese
civil engineering technology is at least 20 to 30 years behind UK or USA.” Roughly 30 years later,in 1979, Japan grew to become a magnificent nation of technology, to the extent that Americansociologist Ezra VOGEL wrote the book ‘Japan as Number One’. This was the result of our seniors
grappling with a vast amount of work, taking on the challenges of science and technology, and2

practicing them boldly.
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused many sufferers, deaths, and great economic damage. While
the world has been hit by a shared catastrophe, the response in each country has beencommunicated by the media. The differences between them can be compared against each other,which is very different from the catastrophes of ordinary natural disasters and wars. For example,
while the social morals of Japanese people, who refrain from going out even if they are notobligated to do so and have established good hygiene habits such as wearing a mask and washing
their hands, are by no means bad by international standards, many Japanese recognized theobvious fact that the information infrastructure, the digitization of administration, and work style
improvements were behind the times. I think that if we can overcome these weaknesses as soon
as possible by using the sense of urgency as the starting point for making a shift and leaping
forward, it will lead to a considerable improvement in productivity.
I think we can turn the aforementioned three crises into opportunities to leap forward by having astrong awareness of them and working diligently with a transformation-orientated mindset.
■ Thinking from the Origins of Civil Engineering
However, in order to overcome these three inherent crises, I think that transforming thesuperstructure such as programs and work systems is not enough. Rather, I wonder is it notimportant to look at the inner parts that govern our minds, such as our own way of thinking andawareness of values in the organization, that is, the substructure, and to reaffirm our own identityand actively transform ourselves.
In the sense that a major turning point is required, this has been mentioned in the addresses of thepresidents who have come before me. For example, Prof Minoru MATSUO, the 84th president,
gave an address entitled “Engineering in the Midst of a Historic Turning Point” in 1997, andtriggered by various scandals and troubles in consensus building with citizens, called for the needfor our own transformation of the civil engineering industry. This shift was largely extrinsic inmotivation, stating “how will the industry change in response to external criticism andenvironmental changes?” The issue I especially want to bring to the table now, however, is rather
our internal self-assessment and self-transformation based on the ‘inherent sense of urgency’.
One of the important points for conducting a self-assessment of our mentality is to reaffirm the‘origins of civil engineering’, that is, our identity. There may be various opinions about what the‘origins of civil engineering’ are. The various opinions can be summarized as follows.
The first of the ‘origins of civil engineering’ is the ‘teleological origin’. The Code of Ethics of theJapan Society of Civil Engineers states that “we will contribute to the well-being and prosperityof the people and the nation as well as the welfare of humankind and its sustainable developmentwith our wisdom.” This sense of a social responsibility corresponds to this ‘teleological origin’.
The second is ‘proximity to the natural environment’. The proximity of the civil engineering field
to nature is extremely high, in terms of protecting citizens from the threat of nature, bringing thebenefits of nature to the people, and understanding and protecting fragile natural environments3and ecosystems.
The third is ‘relationship with the public, that is, politics’. Civil engineering is a field that interacts
with the public. The general public are users, taxpayers, landowners, and voters. Therefore, giventhat the field of civil engineering essentially contains politics, politics can also be said to be one
aspect of the origin of civil engineering. These second and third points are, as you would expect,also touched upon by the Code of Ethics of the Japan Society of Civil Engineers.

Sixth Engineers’ Lounge “DOBOKU”
The Professional Development and Education Program Group of the International Activities
Center regularly holds the Engineers’ Lounge “DOBOKU” for young civil engineers to deepen
their understanding of overseas construction and get them interested, attracted, and inspired toengage in overseas construction projects.
This event welcomes as instructors engineers who are flying the flag overseas to explain not only
the outline of overseas projects, but also future challenges and prospects, interesting experiences
and anecdotes from their time in the field, and difficulties they have faced. Event participants canalso get a real sense of overseas construction, assignments, and life through open discussions withthe lecturers.
Holding the event online for the second time using Zoom meant a wider range of people could
participate, and the bar for participating in the event was even lower, enabling participation fromall over Japan or, better yet, the world.
On this occasion, marking the 6th time we have held this event, we welcomed Mr. Yasushi
Kawaguchi from the Asia Branch of Obayashi Corporation and Mr. Keiichiro Ishii and Mr. Junro
Nawano from the International Branch of Shimizu Corporation as lecturers. In addition to listening
to talks on the topics of ‘the project’ and ‘the work of young engineers and local life’ in relation
to the Existing First Bridges Rehabilitation Project adjacent to the constructions of the second
bridges of Kanchpur, Meghna, and Gumtii in Bangladesh, there was online discussion with theevent participants.
With regards to large construction projects of the scale that one can rarely experience in Japan,
the lecturers explained how to ensure the progress of constructions at sites where public security
is a concern, the importance of communication with companies, local engineers, and workers,
their track records of large-scale procurement of materials and equipment, and how to manage
field teams without a hitch.
The event participants asked many questions such as (1) What should young engineers who areexpecting to be assigned overseas learn before they are assigned?, (2) How best to communicateone’s thoughts to local workers who have different perceptions of quality and safety?, (3) What
4

were the factors behind achieving the completion of the first large-scale public works in
Bangladesh within the construction period?, (4) as well as about additional safety measures
introduced after the 2016 terrorist attack and the circumstances around taking this action. In
response to these questions, the lecturers offered their opinions such as, (1) “Since there is a great
deal of trust in Japanese engineers overseas, I recommend that you acquire a wide range ofknowledge and skills before being assigned,” (2) “It is important to communicate to local workers
not only verbally but also with gestures and drawings,” (3) “In order to ensure that everything
goes according to the work schedule, it is essential to devise and set up how to raise the operating
rate of heavy machinery,” (4) “We must never be passive about safety measures, instead, we need
to be aware of safety at all times.” It was no doubt a precious experience for the young engineers
who are set to flourish overseas.
As mentioned earlier, this is the second time the event has been held online, and while it is now
possible to communicate information to more and more young engineers, it has also become
possible to receive feedback and requests from them as well. We would like to continue to request
more feedback on how we can use this event in a wide variety of different ways.
【Reported by Shigemiki Marutaka (Professional Development and Education Program Group)】

Creating a Place for Engineers from Abroad– JSCE 2020-2024 Project The Japan Society of Civil Engineers has marked four projects to be achieved in its five-year plan‘JSCE Five-Year Plan - We connect regions, generations, and values to create a future society(JSCE 2020-2024)’. One of these projects, which is led by the Diversity & Inclusion Committee(D&I Committee), is ‘Creating a place of activities and tools to realize Civil Engineers’ D&I Ver.
2.0’. We call the current situation in which the term ‘diversity’ has become commonplace andwomen's involvement in the civil engineering industry is gradually making strides as ‘CivilEngineers’ D&I Ver. 1.0’. The next stage is ‘Civil Engineers’ D&I Ver. 2.0’, in which a diverse
range of individuals, not limited to women, and more organizations are involved in society.
Among the efforts of ‘Civil Engineers’ D&I Ver. 2.0’, the International Activities Center and theD&I Committee run the ‘Creating a Place for Engineers from Abroad’ initiative.
Efforts focusing on engineers from abroad have begun in several organizations of JSCE. For
example, the Kanto Chapter held a company information session for international students, andthe Consultant Committee established the Global Civil Engineer Subcommittee. Furthermore, theJSCE Magazine organized a special feature in the form of ‘Welcome to Japan! Internationalization of human resources in the field of “DOBOKU” (Civil Engineering)’ in its
November 2019 issue. The purpose of the International Activities Center and the D&I Committee
is to create and run a ‘place’ to expand and accelerate these efforts.
5

The first thing we did was to start a monthly meeting between the stakeholders. We welcomed Dr.
Ji Dang from the IAC International Student Network Group and Dr. Thi Ha from the Consultant
Committee to share the status of the efforts and hold themed discussions. Going forward, we aimto increase the number of organizations involved, as well as create opportunities where individuals
get involved and a situation where it is common practice for members from overseas to participate
in the various activities of JSCE. We will report the progress of our efforts to IAC News from nowon.

【Reported by Kiko Yamada-Kawai, Vice-Chair, the Diversity & Inclusion Committee】

Updates◆IAC YouTube Channel
https://youtube.com/channel/UCGIs6DHrzX_cGD-mHUrRlkA◆Construction 2050 Alliance - The role ofconstruction in the national Recovery Plans
https://committees.jsce.or.jp/kokusai/node/196◆17th World conference on Earthquake Engineering(17WCEE)
http://www.17wcee.jp/◆The Second International Conference on Press-inEngineering (ICPE) 2021, Kochi: https://icpe-ipa.org/◆9th International Conference on Experimental
Vibration Analysis for Civil Engineering Structures(EVACES2021)

Civil Engineering Heritage:
Kurobe Dam
https://committees.jsce.or.jp/heritage/list/2020

https://ec-intl.co.jp/evaces2021/◆ 9th Civil Engineering Conference in the Asian Region (CECAR9) in Goa, India(Sept 21, 22, and 23, 2022): http://www.cecar9.com/◆jhappy - JICA’s Grant Aid Cooperation Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jhappy20161110/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/jhappy_official◆The International Infrastructure Archives– A Compilation of Japan’s Greatest Projects in Transfer of Civil Engineering Technology inService –http://www.jsce.or.jp/e/archive/◆IAC “News Pick Up!!” on the JSCE Japanese website
http://committees.jsce.or.jp/kokusai/iac_dayori_2020◆Summary of featured articles in JSCE Magazine Vol. 105, No.12, December 2020
http://www.jsce-int.org/pub/magazine◆Journal of JSCE : https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/browse/journalofjsce§ IAC News Subscription §The IAC News is one of the communication tools to share information and ideas with the members. We would like to inviteyou, 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.
§ IAC Facebook §Recent activity of International Activities Center is introduced on this Facebook. Please see this home page6

(https://www.facebook.com/JSCE.en).
Comments and Questions
Please send us your feedback and comments to help us improve the IAC news. We look forward to hearing from you.
JSCE IAC: iac-news@jsce.or.jp

7